Chucky's been surprisingly good but he's gotta start producing to stay in the top 6 once everyone is healthy.
Hyman - Matthews - Marner
Foligno - Tavares - Nylander
Kerfoot - Nash - Mikheyev
Simmonds - Spezza
(OR Jumbo/Chucky/Brooks - Spezza - Simmonds)
Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Sandin - Bogosian
Dermott
Maybe have Jumbo or Chucky in on the fourth line instead of 11F-7D but either way you can throw any of the top guys in with the fourth line; Keefe could also essentially role 3 lines while using Spezza & Simmonds situationally, like Simmonds taking the odd shift in place of Hyman/Foligno/3rd-line-guy or Spezza doing a lot of the same but also used for important right-side draws.
Kerfoot - Nash - Mikheyev could be a pretty responsible defensive line; the top 2 lines are loaded up.
If Sandin continues to play like he is, possibly even becoming a PP1 QB, & Dermott continues to play well as well, it may be hard to scratch either one of them; running 11F-7D the odd time may not be so bad but maybe letting Jumbo stay in the lineup while limiting his ice-time to 5-8 minutes may be the better answer (you take him out the odd shift, even though he'd already only be playing 4th line minutes). Sandin can be used in more offensive situations & Dermott in the more defensive situations, maybe Sandin-Dermott in the odd o-zone draw, Bogo takes the odd shift in the top 4 like with Muzz, and Dermott could eat minutes anywhere the odd shift to give a guy a break (especially when coming off special units for example).
Hyman Matthews Marner
Foligno Tavares Mikheyev
Galchenyuk Kerfoot Nylander
Thornton Spezza Simmonds
Engvall, Nash
We know the top line works. I think Tavares will play better with two guys who play a good cycling game. Nylander gets his own line with a good trigger guy. 4th line substitutes in Engvall for Thornton if its too slow
I actually like the idea of this if there's less of a need of a defensive shutdown line; reminds of when Pittsburgh had their top 3 scoring lines rolling & they just ate the competition alive. Even then though that 2nd line could take on a lot of that defensive responsibility; you could also go Mikheyev - Tavares - Hyman
Christmas came early eh?
