With Conacher already gone, if we don't re-sign Michalek we suddenly are short at the LW position. But let's see what we can do in-house if we can't re-sign Michalek...
I wouldn't want Hoffman on Spezza's wing. We need someone who can cover up defensively for Spezza and/or who can make space for him in the offensive zone. So my choice would be MacArthur (complete player) or Greening (makes space but not much else).
Hoffman could be a better fit with Turris.
Totally disagree w.r.t. Hoffman. He's the fastest player on the team (probably one of the fastest in the league), and he backhecks hard. If anyone can "cover up" for Spezza's nonexistent backchecking, Hoffman can.
MacArthur has been excellent with Turris and had immediate chemistry with him. I don't think splitting them up is a great idea.
I think the best lines for next year would be:
MacArthur - Turris - Ryan
Hoffman - Spezza - Hemsky
Zibanejad/UFA - Zibanejad/Lazar - Lazar/UFA
Greening - Smith - Condra
The Turris line with Ryan on it is a legit #1 line IMO. Mac and Turris are fast, and Mac and Ryan can both hit. You can safely give that line a big chunk of the ES minutes and some PP time.
The 2nd line you can try to use against mismatches: after an icing call, when the opponent sends out their 3rd/4th line, etc. You can also give them the bulk of the PP time.
Then they just need to sign a winger who's really good along the boards to play on that 3rd line. Lazar and Zibby are both opposite shots so you've got some flexibility there. Honestly, someone with a similar skillset to Nick Foligno would be great, especially if he doesn't take as many penalties.
The 4th line is pretty obvious. Waive/trade Kassian, keep Neil as the 13th forward and sign another winger on the cheap or promote an older forward from Bingo for the 14th spot.
The best thing about that Lineup IMO is that you can also mix/match wingers around in the top 3 lines and 2 of them will always have a decent amount of offensive firepower on them.
