Yea, simmonds wont be on the top line

i beg ur pardon? you have two bottom 6 wingers (vesey, simmonds) and the 3C on the 1st and 2nd lines and 3 of our 4 top six wingers (nylander, hyman, mikheyev) on the third line. no.

The salary cap won't be expanded.

Changes will likely come to IR system, and waiver system, and there probably will be a taxi squad outside of the salary cap, but the cap will be $81.5M.

Well... they’re definitely interesting combos. But I think Nylander at centre experiment is done. Your Cap expansion suggestion is an interesting one. But unlikely. As mentioned above I see more IR and waiver system rule bending.

Unless the NHLPA makes major concessions I can't see the league doing anything, as the teams can't afford things as they are. Adding 3.5M to each teams' salary cap just means that more teams are even more in the hole this year, and the players will have an even bigger hole to climb out of to repay they owners to get back to the 50/50. The same goes for any rule bending or other things fans imagine will happen to help out the team they cheer for - if it involves the teams paying out more money, I don't see the owners considering it for a second. Each team can carry up to 23 players. If you can't because you overpaid players then that is your problem.

As for your combos - I see no reason why Nylander will or should ever happen as a 3C. And the Muzzin - Bogo pairing has always made zero sense to me. The Leafs' need more a presence on D, but the one place where they absolutely do not need it is with Muzzin.

Stupid job with the Lines.