Team: 2021-22 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 30, 2021

Published: Jul. 30, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Byron out for five months, keep him on IR so that we know what our cap space looks like
- Once he's back, Poehling goes down... unless he plays very well, which then means that Paquette/Perreault/Byron is either sent down or traded
Still a million to do something if needed... couple things i have in mind that could happen:

KK, Evans both flop at their positions, and need to go down one line. In this scenario, MTL goes for a second line centre to slot in under Suzuki, since there's no chance Poehling or Paquette are going to play there.
The other alternative to this is trying Drouin at centre again. This should only be used if KK and Evans are doing horribly, and MTL can't find a replacement. It's basically a "desperate times call for desperate actions" scenario. In this situation, the lines would be:

Anderson - Suzuki - Caufield
Toffoli - Drouin - Gallagher
Poehling - Kotkaniemi - Hoffman
Lehkonen - Evans - Armia

I feel like MTL should go for another defenseman who can eat big minutes. Petry + Savard isn't as dynamic of a duo as Petry + Weber. I believe they will trade Kulak and/or Drouin/Byron in a deal to get another puck-moving defenseman.
Hopefully our fourth line (Lehkonen - Poehling/Paquette - Armia) becomes a shutdown line. Definitely not as good as Evans - Danault - Gallagher <goddammit bergevin you could've brought danault back>, but hopefully they'll be decent.
Penalty kill looks awesome. We could roll 5F 5D:

Evans - Armia
Edmundson - Petry

Lehkonen - Suzuki
Chiarot - Savard

Toffoli - Romanov as extras

Maybe MTL could make a move to re-acquire Fleury. I was looking in the AHL defense, and its the same situation as MTL. 4 LD, 2 RD (Ouellet, Guhle, Norlinder, Leskinen // Brook, Belpedio) as regulars. He would be good to slot in somewhere on that right side. Maybe a move like Leskinen + a pick?