Quoting: OutDoorRinkBoy
Why?
Just speaking frankly, the depth sucks. The offense would be almost completely reliant on the top line, with the only real secondary scoring coming from the second line. Defensively, this team is a write off, at the very least it’s probably middle of the pack, and that’s with the forwards being better defensively than the dcore, at least in my opinion. And as good as Ullmark has been this season, behind this team, I am pretty sure he would revert to the Ullmark we saw in Buffalo, good but not good enough and terribly inconsistent.
I mean, just look at last year’s Calgary, the past several years of Toronto and Edmonton. Calgary was really riding their top line last year, and when they got figured out, they became a non-factor. McDavid and Matthews, both of them emphasize the saying, “there is no I in team.” While it may take a bit of time, it’s only a matter of time until a team figures out that top line and effectively neutralizes it for the most part. There is also the possibility of just running into a very hot goalie. 2020-21 Carey Price in the playoffs is a great example of that. The team is just too top heavy. The only way I see this team going far is if that top line doesn’t get figured out, and they just steamroll everyone, and they don’t run into a team with a hot goalie.
It’s not a terrible team, but cap space isn’t used as effectively for this roster as it could be, and there is really not much wealth outside of the top guys.
A lineup constructed along the lines of what is below I think would be a better spread of the wealth, and would lead to the team still being a bit top heavy, but not as much as your current roster. In this format, you now have 3 scoring lines with a nasty energy line that can chip in a bit of offense on the forecheck. If you look at the teams that have won the cup over the last decade, they have all had a balance to the roster, some in different forms, but a balance never the less. With the roster constructed as you have, there is very little balance.
Bunting-McDavid-Pavelski
Marchment-Krejci-Marner
Ehlers-Kampf-Barabanov
Foligno-Acciari-ZAR
Fehervary-Fox
Chychrun-Carlo
Gustafsson-Jones