Nothing's going to make anything better this year, so might as well play the kids in spots where they can develop and learn.
Mantha/Z/Tatar
Nyquist/Larkin/Vanek
AA/Nielsen/Abbie
Ott/Glendening/Miller
Perfectly amenable to dumping Miller back to GR and promoting Bertuzzi. Jurco can be the 7th forward. Or not. He's as irrelevant as Ott and Miller, without any of the grit. Helm can take one of the 4th line spots when he's back, or he can trade it with Abbie, I don't think it really makes any difference.
Green/XO
Sproul/DDK
Kronwall-Marchenko/Ericsson
Kronwall and Marchenko can switch off nights. E/XO/DDK can shuffle up and down to keep anyone from having to play over their head for too long, since none of them are capable of playing top pair. Waive Smith when you inevitably can't find anyone who wants him for even a 7th. Let Jensen or whoever sit in the press box as the 7th D.
On offense, Z is there to work with Mantha. Larkin gets reps at 2C with a pass-first winger and Vanek, who will at least hustle for pucks. AA gets a defensively responsible center and some spare grit, the 4th line continues to be largely worthless and probably still gets way too much ice time. On defense, we cut Kronwall's ice time in half, and stop benching Sproul for guys who won't ever have an NHL future. some part of the defensive side of each pair will always be playing over his head, so just cycle them up and down the pairs so no one has to spend several games getting beat up and down the ice. Let Green and Sproul QB the power plays. Keep Sheahan off the ice as the 8th forward or dump him for whatever anyone will give us. It's not a good team, but I think it would let the kids grow into the roles they should have in the future, while insulating them as much as possible with the veterans we have.