At this point I think there is a lot of dead weight on this team.
1. Michalek - Not producing enough for the minutes he plays.
2. Greening - Same dealio, he's a 4th line scrub at best right now.
3. Cowen - Just flat out playing poorly, 3rd pairing protected minutes or press box.
4. Gryba - Just not an NHL regular. He's the 7th D and even then only on bad teams.
5. Phillips - His game basically has nothing left except as an occasional 7th D.
How do we fix this? Trade/let walk most of them. Insulate Cowen and try to develop him. People forget he's coming off a full year of no hockey. He should eventually be decent. It's just going to take a lot of patience. We've set him up to fail this year and that is our own fault as an organization. Frankly, he may never turn out, you win some you lose some. He's still worth the time to find out, however long it takes.
Ideal Lineup at Present:
MacArthur-Turris-Pageau
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Conacher-Spezza-Stone
Michalek-Smith-Condra
Karlsson-Methot
Wiercioch+Acquisition
Phillips-Ceci
Realistically we need two more veteran T4D to be a much better team. Then I suppose you pop prospects in and out until you see who fits. The list is endless. Gotta give them a shot to stick in the NHL at some point.
Another Option for the Forwards:
MacArthur-Turris-Zibanejad
Conacher-Spezza-Ryan
Hoffman-Pageau-Stone
Condra-Smith-Michalek
Flip stone & Ryan as need be. Realistically P-Mac never gave Ryan & Spezza a chance to develop any chemistry. They've barely played together. Play the lines like this and watch it happen. Big benefit of this second option is that we have a full line from Bingo intact and we get Michalek down to where he should be if he's not dealt at the deadline.