What I would do with the roster for opening night.
First Line: I believe MacKinnon and Landeskog should be together all the time, they work well together and are the best possession players on the team, they can both pass so I think Iginla will greatly benefit from their sound defensive game and their play making. Landeskog and Iginla will also provide some toughness against other teams top lines. MacKinnon needs to start playing center full time since with O'Reilly's departure the position is a little weaker.
Second Line: This and the 3rd line are a little complicated, the centers are fine but the wings might be interchangeable. Duchene needs better wings but this is the best that can work for him with the players on the team, Rantanen and Tanguay will provide some okay defense. Duchene and hopefully Rantanen can bury the puck from Tanguay passes. Rantanen should stay on the right wing as it's his natural position.
Third Line: I think Soderberg will benefit from playing easier competition on the 3rd line as he did in Boston. He's an expensive 3rd line center and probably won't produce at the same level if he stays on the 3rd line like he did with Boston because he has weaker line mates, he can possibly be shuffled to the 2nd line if the need arises as well. Comeau isn't a 4th line player so this is the only place to slot him in, Comeau can possibly move up to Duchene's line substituting Tanguay, Comeau will help make this line a high tempo energy line though with Rendulic and would possibly slow down with Tanguay instead. Rendulic was off my radar this off season but played well during the preseason.
Fourth Line: The 4th line will be a competent line for the first time in 3 years, the last time I thought the 4th line was decent was when McClement was on the team. Mitchell and Skille provide some very good skills for a 4th line and a decent scoring touch. I believe Grigorenko would be the better player on the 4th line over McLeod because he has more talent, would score more, can be moved up and down the line up and be more efficient and help his development all at once, those are many positive factors of why McLeod should have been buried in the AHL along with Bordeleau and Cliche.
1-2 D: The left side on the team is incredibly weak and Beauchemin is the most obvious choice to go on the left side for the top pairing and without a doubt Johnson takes the right as the #1 defense man on the team.
3-4 D: The right is strong on the Avs with Barrie taking the spot for the 2nd pairing. The left grows considerably weaker but not that bad with Gormley who has some experience and is easily better than Holden and Guenin.
5-6 D: Stuart takes the right by default not only because of his contract but because even he is better than Holden and Guenin, honestly does fine for a bottom pairing defense man. Zadorov takes the left side, while his size would complement Barrie well Gormley wins out with experience in the pros, mostly AHL but Zadorov should be sheltered for now and grow his way up to the top 4 instead of being rushed since he has great potential and size it should be nurtured carefully.
#1 Goalie: Varlamov, no explanation needed.
#2 Goalie: Berra, hopefully plays like he did at the end of last season.
Extras: McLeod, Holden, Guenin. Honestly they are so bad it's a nightmare that they survived the cuts this year after it seemed management was finally making moves that focus on possession with Cliche and Bordeleau being buried. I personally would have sent down Guenin and kept Redmond as the 7th D as he drives possession thanks to his superior passing as well as score more and play an okay defensive game equal to or better than Guenin's. Holden is fine as the 8th D he does well for a bottom pairing defense man like Stuart but should be replaced in the near future none the less. As for McLeod, he should have also been buried or traded long ago to the Canucks as was rumored a few years ago. If I had to choose a forward to keep up it would have been between Agozzino, Hishon or Martisen, all talented and skilled forwards that can play wing with lots of potential.
Not bad. I do think Rantanen could handle the minutes necessary to play with Duchene on the second line, especially since he is being left out of special teams initially. However, gotta disagree on Grigorenko; dude can't skate very well. He earned the 13th spot with poor preseason play. I think McLeod will be fine on the 4th line with competant linemates.
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