It is becoming very difficult to come up with an opening night roster.
Some questions need to be answered (and in no particular order):
1) Hate to say it, but Dube and the Team Canada fallout
2) Monahan and how healthy he will be
3) Ruzicka and his off-season
4) Pelletier and his off-season
I won't bring up Dube - we all know the story here. Monahan is not very far removed from looking like a top-line centre. I thought he was going to have a career year in that All-Canadian division. He started off really well from what I remember, and then he got injured. Now that (hopefully) he is all patched-up, I don't think anybody can even guess at what level he may be back at until he is actually back and playing for a month or two, getting his timing back and so on. Maybe he returns to practically being a #1 centre, or maybe he is a 4th line winger at best. Time will tell I guess. Ruzicka I think will make the team (and what position is probably dependent on both Dube and Monahan). I think Sutter really likes him - likes his skill, his IQ and his size, and Sutter has often spoke about how important centres are to controlling the ice. Sutter will give Ruzicka the runway, as long as it is obvious that Ruzicka has put in the work this off-season. As for Pelletier - every coach loves this player for being so mature and willing to play defence. I think he gets a long look at least.
Figuring out the lineups will be hard. While I do think that losing Tkachuk's points is going to hurt somewhat, I actually do think it is reasonable to expect players to fill that internally.
My first guess at the roster:
Huberdeau - Lindholm - Toffoli
Mangiapane - Backlund - Monahan
Pelletier - Ruzicka - Coleman
Lucic - Dube - Rooney
Weegar - Tanev
Hanifin - Andersson
Kylington - Zadorov
Explanations (I personally like to understand the thought process behind people's lineup decisions, so I will give you mine):
Forwards:
Line 1: Toffoli is the best RHS natural RW on the team. Makes sense to try that.
Line 2: Monahan as the RW - I think you have to try him offensively. Finding soft areas and having that incredibly dangerous shot was the forte of his game, so let's see how that looks in an offensive role. Unless Monahan returns to form, nobody is displacing Backlund as the 2nd line centre. Mangiapane moves to the top line if Toffoli isn't cutting it there.
Line 3: Pelletier and Ruzicka can both be sheltered a bit. Coleman is defensively sound, and I think pushing him to the 2nd line is asking too much from him offensively. Baertschi - Monahan under Hartley, Bennett-Jankowski under Peters - having two younger players on the third line isn't always a bad idea, when you can shelter that line and have a more defensively responsible player who is not shy to be very vocal helping out.
Line 4: No brainer here with Lucic. Dube starts off as the centre here, with Rooney on the wing. Dube has the upside, and i like him as a centre more than a winger, so he pushes Rooney to the wing. Won't get an argument for putting Rooney there, as he is a natural centre and the organization obviously targeted him for a reason.
Defence:
First pair: Weegar and Tanev I believe are the first pairing. No need to shelter Kylington somewhat now. These two will go up against the top lines. Sutter specifically stated he matches defence against forwards, and though I like Kylington, he was the weak-link defensively at times. Weegar has elite-level suppression stats, no? Should be a very stifling pair to play against.
Second Pair: Hanifin - Andersson - They were the first pair last year (and I think partly because of Kylington on the 2nd). Call them Pair 1B for all that matters. Both young, both getting better.
Third Pair: Kylington - Zadorov - I think this is going to be a very good pair together. I think Kylington being paired with another defencemen who likes to pinch will make him a MORE effective defencemen, not less. Besides, I really don't think Zadorov is all that offensive anyway. Playing with someone who you know will always have your back makes you have to think less - maybe playing with Zadorov will force Kylington to take another step forward. He will be playing against less skilled opposition - maybe that will increase his confidence too. I think there is a benefit here.
That's how I see it anyway. I think the lineup will be very much in flux for most of the season. I am not even sure that the top line (and whatever version of the top line it becomes) will stay together for most of the season.
Those 4 points above (Monahan, Dube, Pelletier and Ruzicka) will be the driving force behind most of the line-combo changes I am guessing (and hopefully all positive changes).
This team certainly doesn't look so weak on paper, even if you completely remove Monahan and Dube from the equation as 'worst case scenarios'. That defence is looking like it will be hard to get by, with a fast transition from all 3 pairs. This team can definitely make some noise, and I am not sure it is finalized yet. No point in talking about Markstrom and Vladar - both showed they are capable of being a formidable tandem, and I expect (and hope) that Vladar gets more games this year too.
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