Team: 2021-22 Custom Team

Initial Creation Date: Sep. 5, 2021

Published: Sep. 5, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

An all Nova Scotia first line with Marchand-Crosby-MacKinnon would be deadly. Obviously aware of the success that this line had with Bergeron instead of MacKinnon back in 2016 at the World Cup. But, it has been 5 years since that tournament and a guy like MacKinnon has developed into becoming arguably the best or 2nd best player in hockey. I feel like the chemistry these three would have would be absolutely unreal and a treat to watch. A ''2nd'' line with Huberdeau-McDavid-Point would also be stupid good. All three guys are so creative and Point have that deadly finishing ability that everybody seems to forget. The third line with Mangiapane-Barzal-Marner will absolutely kill the other teams less defensively strong d-pairings and have the ability to be difference makers in tight games. Mangiapane is really good. Calgary fans obviously know it, and if you watched the World Championships over the summer, you know what impact he had on Team Canada. He came in and changed the team completely after they went down 0-3 to come back and win the tournament. He is going to break out this season and could very much be a ppg player. 4th line is just a strict shutdown line with players that have unreal two-way ability. They are also selected for their penalty kill ability. Not all players can play on the power play so these guys will still have an important role for the team. Scheifele and Couturier are nice ''wild cards'' to have. If a line isn't working offensively Scheifele can be injected to make a difference while Couturier is an option if a defensive responsible player goes down to an injury or underperforms.

Defense was the hardest part of this team. Makar, Pietrangelo, Hamilton and Theodore are all locks for me. the two remaining spots were open. Obviously guys like Rielly and Chabot are super talented and would make the team on talent alone, but they won't play over Makar, Theodore or Hamilton on the power play and they don't kill penalties, so if I am building a team, I am not taking them. Devon Toews is one of the most underrated defensemen in the league and he is Makar's current partner in Colorado so I don't see why he couldn't come and perform the exact same role here. He kills penalties as well and is elite doing it. The last spot stood between Muzzin and Pelech for me and I ultimately decided to go with Muzzin. I am leafs fan so people might say that I am biased, but I genuinely think he is one of the best shutdown defensemen in the league, and has been that for a while now. He doesn't get as much recognition as he should with the Leafs big 4 and Rielly constantly being talked about. Islanders fans will say the exact same thing about Pelech and I can't argue against it. The main difference is that Pelech does it with another world class defender in Pulock and Muzzin does it with Justin Holl who is good but not even close to Pulock. Muzzin also has that winning pedigree with Team Canada winning both a World Cup and World Championship. He also has a Stanley Cup to his name. An Olympic gold medal would mean he has won everything in hockey which shows what a winner he is. He kills penalties as well as bringing a physical presence which always is welcome. Chychrun is a nice 7th defenseman to have. he can do a little bit of everything and can slot in for anyone on LD if someone gets injured.

Goaltending is pretty straightforward. Price and MAF are guaranteed to be on this roster if they are healthy. Kuemper and Blackwood will likely make some noise if they perform well during the regular season, but with the playoff run MTL just had, Price showed everyone how good he still is. MAF just won the Vezina, so I don't think too many people can complain here.

PP1:
Marchand
MacKinnon-Crosby-McDavid
Makar

PP2:
O'Reilly
Marner-Point-Huberdeau
Theodore

Let me know what you think and what you would change and why you would change it. I bet I am going to have to defend taking Mangiapane and Muzzin lol.