The top six looked good when we stacked it against the Rangers, but it left the third line with a lot of question marks.
Loading up the top six seems to work against weaker opponents or bubble teams, but I’m less confident that the third line will hold against Florida or Tampa.
I have confidence in six of our top nine forwards: Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Knies, and McMann.
Domi as the seventh is interesting because I trust him as a top-six winger if paired with Matthews, but I’m less confident in him as a third-line center. So, when we use him in that role, it’s almost like losing a player.
In the offseason, either the Domi money needs to go toward a third-line center, or the Marner money needs to go toward rebuilding the third line—allowing Domi to play with Matthews. Right now, we have one too many wingers and are still short a center. So either Domi or Marner needs to go in the offseason to fix the 3rd line.
Lines:
Knies–Matthews–Domi/Marner (choose 1)**
McMann–Tavares–Nylander
Third Line
For the playoffs, I’m not sure how they’ll approach it, but as currently constructed, that third line has question marks for me.