Strand a new crew member

[Lynx]

We did something like this in TNG, but it could happen in VOY, too: the dynamic cast swap-out.

Begin Season 1: Cast is as written, except Harry Kim is a Lower decker, not included in main cast. Seska takes his place. Also, Carey is chief engineer, and is a regular recurring character.
Season 1: Seska is discovered to be a Cardassian mole, and leaves. Harry is the most qualified person for Operations.
Season 2: Carey leaves in "The 37's". Torres takes his place. Harry leaves in "Non Sequitur", Daniel Byrd takes his place.
Season 3: Kes departs, Seven arrives.
Season 4: Torres killed during Year of Hell. Vorik takes her place.
Season 5: Tuvok and many of security killed during some incident or other. A Hirogen hunter that Voyager rescued from his dying ship fights off the attackers. With Janeway's permission, he takes over as security chief and creates the Hazard Team, specializing in small unit tactics and heavy weaponry.
Season 6: No cast changes, but the command structure is altered: Janeway loses it with the Equinox and is relieved of command by Chakotay. Tom becomes acting first officer.
Season 7: Chakotay is injured*, Janeway returns to command. And Neelix leaves.

*Would have killed him off, but we need him for Prodigy.

It would still have me leaving in anger in season 3.
Seriously, a series like this with so many changes in the cast would made me leave very soon, most likely in season 3 (favorite character dumped) but at least in season 4 or early 5.

 

[Oddish]

It would still have me leaving in anger in season 3.

Ok, let's see... I guess we could keep Kes and bring in Seven. Since Seven has access to Borg knowledge, she could take an ancillary role in engineering when B'Elanna kicks off, and add Borg improvements to the engine. Vorik is a regularly recurring character, though.

I'm not saying this scenario was ideal, it's just that rapid changes were the point of that particular exercise.

 

[Sumire]

The character swaps you proposed @Oddish would definitely give us a very different Tom… losing his best friend and then no wife and child? As a steadfast B'Elanna x Tom shipper (and lover of Harry), I’d have been pretty devastated with these changes but I was wondering, did you have an altered plan for Tom’s character growth in your back pocket? (Totally understandable if you don’t, it was not a part of the original cast swapping exercise, just curious.)

 

[Oddish]

The character swaps you proposed @Oddish would definitely give us a very different Tom… losing his best friend and then no wife and child? As a steadfast B'Elanna x Tom shipper (and lover of Harry), I’d have been pretty devastated with these changes but I was wondering, did you have an altered plan for Tom’s character growth in your back pocket? (Totally understandable if you don’t, it was not a part of the original cast swapping exercise, just curious.)

Good question.
If we go with @Lynx and keep Kes, it's already been done for us. We just go the "Before and After" route with some modifications. Most notably, being half human, Linnis has a longer lifespan, so she's still a kid in Year 7. And with some work from the Doc, Kes gets a few more years as well.

While Tom and B'Elanna were cute, Tom and Kes could also work.

As for Harry, remember that I didn't kill him, I removed him via "Non Sequitur". He gets a fancy house in San Francisco, he gets ○● on his collar, he gets a Vulcan mocha extra sweet every morning and sweet ♡♡♡ with Libby every night.

 

[Sumire]

While Tom and B'Elanna were cute, Tom and Kes could also work.

I have an admitted bias towards romance with a lot more quipping and a little more friction (blame a fair bit of Katharine Hepburn movie viewing in my formative years) so although Tom and Kes are indeed a sweet pairing, they are not my personal preference.

As for Harry, remember that I didn't kill him, I removed him via "Non Sequitur". He gets a fancy house in San Francisco, he gets ○● on his collar, he gets a Vulcan mocha extra sweet every morning and sweet ♡♡♡ with Libby every night.

Yes, but than I, the viewer of the show, don’t get to see his sweet befuddled expressions. You see the issue I have with this.

No vitriol intended toward your suggested changes though, just chiming in with my reactions to your thought experiment.

 

[Oddish]

Yes, but than I, the viewer of the show, don’t get to see his sweet befuddled expressions. You see the issue I have with this...

Indeed, it's an exercise, nothing more. My only serious objection to Harry is that he was never promoted. Everything else they did with his character could be understood if not justified, but that decision was a slap in our face.