My lineup for this coming season is usually configured around icing the best team obviously, but I also think we need this to be a "develop and reload" on the fly season. We need to try to make a few things happen this year that will help us keep the window open longer and possibly opened wider.
Here is my (optimal, healthy and signed) lineup for this year.
Knies Matthews Domi
Holmberg Nylander Marner
Robertson Tavares McMann
Dewar Kampf Jarnkrok
...Cowan (for at least nine games), Grebenkin, Reaves, Minten will rotate in and out and get more opportunity as injuries hit. We can make it work and I would not be afraid of losing Reaves on waivers.
On D, it's
Rielly Tanev
OEL Liljegren
Benoit McCabe
Hakanpaa
...we have Timmins, Myers, Mermis, Rifai, Niemela, Kokkonen that could all get a look. Maybe even Webber or the guy who just came over from the German league.
In goal, I would be very happy with
Woll 42 games
Stolarz 34 games
Murray 6 games
I would love to have three rested, tested, and healthy goalies come playoffs.
This is a solid lineup that could win a President's Trophy, but just as importantly we are accomplishing a lot, or at least learning a lot about what we have and what we need to acquire.
(1) Our top line is making less than $20M next year. That seems valuable for depth reasons. Let Matthews, Domi and Knies develop into 100 goal top line year in and year out.
(2) We don't need to worry about a Future 2C because it turns out we had one on our roster. Any of Nylander, Marner or Holmberg emerging as a 2C would be a hugely positive addition to our makeup. I have all three of them on a second line together. A couple of strong defensive wingers might help Willy transition to C and he is my preferred answer. Marner playing for a contract and feeding fifty pucks to Nylander is a pretty strong second line too. Also, let's see if Holmberg can keep up, 50 points out of him would be very nice to see.
(3) An actual third line. This trio played well together last year. Let JT slide back to a couple fewer minutes every night and maybe some easier matchups. All three on this line could get 20 goals with decent minutes. That's part of this too. These three lines should be combining for 42 to 44 ES minutes per night, that leaves five or six for the fourth line. If we achieve this it certainly means we should not be spending $6M on the fourth line.
(4) Let Reilly play like a number one with Tanev at his side and let Liljegren play like a top four with OEL. Giving Lilly a chance to sink or swim with OEL seems like a good bet to take. The worst case is probably that he is fine and the upside is we have a young top four RD at a good number and a third pairing that has McCabe, Benoit and Hakanpaa on it. That would be a very solid top 7.
(5) Establish Woll as the 1A on a good to very good tandem. No drama, no controversy, no major injuries, no rushing the Marlies up, and no problem going to Murray who is better than what Jones gave us last year.
(6) Lot of chances for kids that we need to see and develop. Holmberg, Robertson, Kampf, Reaves, Jarnkrok, and Dewar should be feeling competition every day from Cowan, Grebenkin, Minten, and Steeves. These guys will step in when injuries hit and hopefully not in only fourth line minutes.
These things happening are how we become a better team from within. We need to try to make as much of this as we can happen.
