Your lineup is totally jacked up. Where is Vrana? Why aren't Niskanen and Orlov a pairing? Why isn't DJoos in the top 4? All things that will happen for the Caps this season aren't here

While I agree with you that these aren't going to be the correct call-ups or the actual line-up construction, I don't think that really is the issue here. The question is can the Caps survive with a short line-up and a bunch of rookies, and I don't think it's a good situation for Washington.

They can do so and stay competitive with the right callups. Vrana, Barber, and Boyd/Walker as forwards, Djoos and Bowey/Hobbs as dmen. Not going to leave them much cap space, but the team is good enough to work through it.

Will they still be a playoff contender? Sure, but you are weakening their 2nd-4th lines and their 2nd and 3rd defensive pairings, plus significantly weakening their depth.

The 2nd line will probably be weaker with Vrana instead of Mojo. The 3rd should be the same as part of last season, with the effective combo of Connolly-Eller-Wilson. The 4th might be as good or better, depending on how the prospects do. The defense will be weaker, and that's where I think BMac screwed up. He should have packaged Orpik and Grubi before the draft to open up space.

This was just made to figure out how Caps can field a 23 man roster under their current Salary Cap situation. It's not about creating optimal lines. It's about filling in their roster with Waiver-Exempt players so they are free to move players up-down w/o them being claimed.

If a player is not listed on the lineup, it's because their cap hit is too great and if they are added there are not enough cheaper contracts available to fill in the rest of the roster.