It's clear from his initial posts that he's looking at budget stoves. That takes most if not all cat stoves off the table. I saw some new Dutchwest cats at a local shop a few years back, they weren't real pricey...but they aren't high-end stoves, and I don't think they even make 'em any more.
I don't think he's going to have a lot of shoulder season low burning to deal with anyway..he lives just down the road from International Falls, MN. They have about two months of "summer" up there, then it's back into the deep freeze.
Yep, if he plans to do more air-sealing and insulation, he might get by with a somewhat smaller stove in the long run. In any case, where he lives, he's still gonna need a pretty big stove the vast majority of the time..
that's what you have to plan for. And the woods that are common are probably faster-burning species so he'll want a bigger box for that as well. He might be able to get some Sugar (hard) Maple though, I don't know.