You're right. He makes a ton of difference. It is just frustrating that he makes the difference between bottom-of-the-conference to having a shot at #8 seed. Imagine if he came back and provided a spark to an otherwise competent team. The depth is lacking and even when nearly whole, they need an upgrade at 4 forward positions and 2 defense.
Last night they showed that their forward lines can keep pressure on a pretty soft Rangers, no touch, defense. If they can all stay on the ice together for an extended stretch of games then they can do good things. It looks like the top two lines are going to need some time to adjust to each other. The most effective line continues to be Larsson's line because Bylsma's keeps them together every game.
Getting Bogosian and Kulikov back might keep me from holding my breath every time the opposing team crosses the blue line.