As much as I wish it weren't the case, the prospect of the Lightning trading Cirelli is a pipe dream - I just don't see him being made available.

Assuming no changes occur to the forward group, your lines make some sense except that, if the 3rd line is going to be 71-37-43, then Rodrigues would be on the right wing and Sheary on the left to allow them each to play their natural handedness. I also like the fact you omitted Thompson because he does need more development time in Rochester but I suspect that Wilson will be demoted and Thompson playing somewhere with Okposo as the 13th forward.

Change Cirelli to Johnson and remove to pick and maybe it makes sense for both teams.

Disagree - it may make sense for Lightning but not the Sabres. At his age and contract, Johnson is not worth adding at expense of Ristolainen - Buffalo would come to regret that deal as much as they are the O'Reilly deal, especially if Callahan's cap dump is still part of the mix even if it does go on LTIR.

Frankly, the ship has sailed on the Tampa-Ristolainen trade rumors IMO - once Miller was dealt and knowing Cirelli was untouchable, there's nothing available on the Lightning roster that justifies dealing Ristolainen anymore.

Johnson would be like the 3rd or 4th best forward on the team and Risto basically isn't good.