The Pittsburgh Penguins won two consecutive Stanley Cups with a rookie in net and a normal defense. The main reason they won was because of their offense. When the Kessel trade happened, many people wanted him to play with Crosby or Malkin. But instead of putting all of their superstars on the same line, they distributed the skill on three lines and they had rookies and good veterans play alongside them. I'm aware that Pacioretty, Galchenyuk and Drouin are not as good as Crosby, Malkin and Kessel but it's a great strategy that worked for a team that won the Stanley Cup. Our offense would be dangerous in every shift, even our fourth line isn't looking bad at all. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup last year without Kristopher Letang, their best defensemen who was injured during the playoffs and their defense without Letang is quite ordinary. We have Shea Weber, Karl Alzner, Jeff Petry and some other solide defenseman. We also have the best goalie in the NHL, Carey Price, who is in his prime. I could actually see it working for us and we could even make it to the Easten Conference Finals. Our team is actually pretty good.

With Price in net, anything is possible, but I'm not optimistic about our cup chances.

If I were the coach I would start camp with

Lehkonen-Galchenyuk-Drouin
Pacioretty-Plekanec-Gallagher
Byron-Danault-Shaw
Hudon-McCarron-Hemsky
Holland-Mitchell

Schlemko-Weber
Alzner-Petry
Jerabek-Benn
Streit