Tried not to care but winter is long.
Pacioretty-Desharnais-Cole-legit top line now
Moen-Plekanec-Gionta - plays against other top lines.
Galchenyuk-Eller-Armstrong - if they find chemistry quickly could be the secondary scoring missing all last year
Prusty-White-Nookie = nasty but leaves you wanting more.
Markov - Gorges - steady at both ends
Bouillon-Subban- Frankie will need to play the tough minutes until Tinordi is ready.
Emelin -Diaz - second pp unit, moves the puck well but can't clear the crease
In the press box sitting on their fat wallets and cracking each other up with imitations of the coach's accent:
Gomez, Bourque and Kaberle.
1- They are not a legit first line yet. Also, last year they benefited from less defensive duties, and better match ups, they lead us to a 3rd overall pick. Not saying they weren't good, but what's the point of keeping them together when our other lines actually worsened?
2- Absolutely horrendous 2nd line. Moen? Are we serious about this? You are converting two guys that are paid 5M each and offensively very capable into 3rd line shutdown players. Randy Cunneyworth left quite an impression on you.
3- Gally might not even make the team, and Armstrong was horrible in his last season in TO before getting injured.
You're also wasting Bourque. Despite him bring horrible last year, I don't see how a guy like Armstrong is ahead of him. You're talking about a possibly 20-25G scorer, you owe it to yourself to at least try to make him produce.
As for our Dmen, I don't hate those pairings, but I would have Emelin next to Subban. Bouillon has no business being in the top 4.
Markov is still a question mark for the NHL. So, I wouldn't give him top opposition.
I'd likely go with Gorges-PK as the top shutdown role. Then have the two russians play along one another with Markov-Emelin, and Kaberle despite sucking defensively, serves his purpose on the PP (and the PP will be key if we want to score goals considering our lackluster offense), so he comes with Diaz. Bouillon is on the outs.
You lines need some serious remodeling. It's a line up guaranteed to fail with the way you built it.
MaxPac and Cole cannot play together with DD if we're serious about making a strong push. There's no way Bourque will excel next to Plekanec facing top opponents with heavier defensive duties.
I'd like to see:
MaxPac-Plek-Gionta
Bourque-DD-Cole
Moen-Eller-Gomez (yes, Gomez will get a shot. He won't be tossed aside from game 1, it just won't happen, so might as well be ready to see it. If it doesn't work, put Armstrong)
Prust-White-Armstrong
Now, there's also another possibility but most probably wouldn't even want to try it. A few years ago, agains Boston in the POs, those three players were placed together and played well. DD-Gomez-Gionta. If that line is reassembled, and plays well, it changes a lot of things.
MaxPac-Plek-Cole - Undeniable talented top line, two of those players are proven veterans capable of facing top opponents.
DD-Gomez-Gionta - If they played as they did in the POs, then they could provide secondary scoring.
Bourque-Eller-Moen - Similar to last year's Ak-Eller-Moen line, they could dominate weaker opposition.
Prust-White-Armstrong - Aggressive grinder line.
This is also with Gally not making the club. It'll be interesting though, but I really hope Therrien experiments a lot in order to maximize our players. Putting DD with MaxPac and Cole is a recipe proven to fail imo.