"Obviously the player has to be there, you have to feel good about that player. You enter a draft knowing that you want to take the best player available, but at times there are organizational needs that you have to identify and we feel very good about it.
"These players are all now going to grow up together and be a big part of our future going forward. You add that with a couple players in Robbie and Matt Grzelcyk coming out of college that are a little older, it's a good group."
It's a group that provides some hope, with the promise of talent and potential and a future brighter than the present. There is a chance the defensemen on the current roster could be pushed by the likes of Carlo and Lauzon, O'Gara and Grzelcyk, though it's also possible they are not seasoned enough.
Carlo, a 6-foot-5, 203-pound right-shot defenseman, noted he is making strides in size and strength, that he could see himself helping the team in the near future, but acknowledged at the same time he still has work to do in speed, getting back on pucks and skating. He saw some of that come to life in a brief stint with Providence of the American Hockey League at the end of last season.
"Depending on how I do at camp, I feel like I'll realize which is better for me, and which is not," Carlo said. "I think definitely I can hold my [own] at the pro level, but that doesn't mean at the same time that I'll be a strong player at the NHL level as well.
"Obviously you want a guy who can step in and impact the game, not just be a part of it. So I definitely want to be at the point where I'm ready to impact the game rather than just be a part of it when I make that level."
That will be the key, allowing those players to get where they need them to be before pushing them to fill holes the team has created. It's not easy to do in the wake of two consecutive seasons of watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs instead of playing in them.
"Patience is a word that is not readily thrown around in this marketplace," Sweeney said. "And we understand that. I've never not acknowledged that we're in a competitive business. We want to win every year.
"But you have to grow your players. I firmly believe that. I've been committed to it since I've taken the job and certainly even working in development, I've always believed that the internal search is the best place to find your players. … And they have to hit. If they don't, then that's on us for misidentifying. But the opportunity will be there for them to have a chance to play for us."