Guentzel - Crosby - Kapanen
Zucker - Malkin - Rust
McCann - Blueger - Lafferty
Tanev - Jankowski - Sceviour
Rodrigues
Dumoulin - Letang
Pettersson - Marino
Matheson - Ceci
Riikola
Jarry / DeSmith
taxi/IR: Nolan, Aston-Reese, Ruhwedel, + sign Garrett Wilson, Kevin Gravel and Jimmy Howard and you’ve got a full unit for practice.
Crosby will always get the tougher defensive matchups so he gets our best winger.. Malkin is iffy defensively so Zucker & Rust compensate for that. Jake and Sid can make things happen with a cigar store indian on the right wing so Kapanen won’t need instant chemistry there, he can learn how to play off the other 2 over time.
Bottom 2 lines might prompt questions... Tanev with Jankowski since there’s familiarity there which might help Jankowski find his game again, and Lafferty on RW rather than having him or others play the wrong side. Also trying to balance the bottom lines a bit, I’d rather have 2 solid checking units than one good one and one bad one. You rotate Rodrigues in for Lafferty or Jankowski or even Sceviour both to keep things fresh, make sure guys aren’t taking nights off or until you find a mix that works. Not married to it but I like guys on the correct side and a balance of speed / physicality / skill / experience.