There are so many options, so many combinations and permutations. That's a good thing of course. It speaks to our depth.
The concern is that I don't want to see us tinkering and messing with our chemistry and flow simply to counter what the other team/coach is doing.
I want us to know find out best line-up, run with it and make the other team respond. Of course, injuries and other factors will require us to tinker and tweak. We will have players sitting out that I would be VERY comfortable playing for us. This will help us sustain a long run, but we need o win a round or two for that to be a factor.
Bertuzzi Matthews Domi - to me, this line is a lock. They gel well, surround our star with jam and playoff pedigree and give us balance depth on lines #2 and #3.
McMann Tavares Marner - I like this one too. Marner and McMann support JT's defensive shortcomings and this seems like a line that can chip in a goal a night.
Jarnkrok Holmberg Nylander - here is where it gets interesting. I like the looks of this line. I like the idea of a Swedish-connection chemistry and we know WN and CJ play well together. This also has nice defensive balance for our sniping star. It should also kick in a goal a night.
Knies Kampf Reaves - I think we saw the partial audition for this last night and Knies was a beast on the fourth with Kampf. I think Reaves can handle fourth line ice time and I think he brings value in other ways against a team like Florida.
As for depth, I am surprised I have Reaves in ahead of Robertson, Dewar and Gregor.l but do any of those guys bring something more valuable in six minutes night? Maybe Dewar on the PK. Our flexibility is very useful though. If someone in our top nine goes down, we can put Knies or Robertson up and backfill on the fourth.
As for D, it is much less clear to me. We need to see who Edmondson plays well with and if Liljegren is healthy or not. We are running out of time for these experiments. Today, I would go with...
Rielly Lyubushkin - LD\RD with some track record. Partnering MR with a stay at home with sandpaper seems like the model (Schenn last year, Lyubushkin the year before). It also gives us more options on the other pairings. We might see Mo get five or six more minutes a night than Boosh, maybe not if we go five forwards on the PP.
McCabe Benoit - They work together, they might be our shit down pair and they play playoff hockey. I think both are in the PO top six.
Brodie Edmondson - This remains to be seen. We could swap Liljegren or Gio in for Brodie but I want to see this one first. TJB has shown he aril has some hockey left and maybe third pairing, on the left side with a partner like JE is the play here?
We start Samsonov in G1, no doubt about it. We give him some leash. We haven't seen a goalie on this kind of heater heading into the playoffs in quite some time.