Changing the Lineup for Next Year

Équipe: 2020-21 Canadiens de Montréal

Date de création initiale: 20 mai 2020

Publié: 31 mai 2020

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is crazy (or something like that). I know we are getting good results from the first line of Tatar-Danault-Gallagher but maybe we could get better all round results from a little line tweeking.
Firstly I signed Domi to a short bridge contract which is probably a mistake since I want to put him on the top line. I think that the Habs should try to put Domi as the center on the first line with Tatar and Gally to generate more offence for us. Domi put up great numbers 2 years ago playing with Shaw and Byron I would like to see what he could do with better wingers (Tatar>Byron and Gallagher>Shaw). Domi just needs to work on his face-off percentage and stop take as many selfish penalties.
I know that Danault has great chemistry with that line but I think his offensive stats are inflated from being on the top line. I would pair Danault with Lehkonen and Armia and use them as a shut-down line against the other teams top line and in penalty kill situations. Lehkonen and Armia have very strong 2 way games to complement Danault's game. So in actual ice time Danault line would be the first line, since CJ would always put them out whenever the opposing team plays their top line. Maybe this way Danault could finally win the Selke trophy we know he deserves.
This leaves Kotkaniemi as the odd man out. We could put him on the 4th line playing 10 minutes a game but I think he would be better served playing 20 minutes a game down in Laval. Hopefully KK can dominate in the AHL build up his confidence and perfect his game, we could call him up when there are injuries to our top 3 centers. We would have to figure out what to do with the log jam situation at the center spot in the 2021-22 season. My thinking is that if KK does dominate in the AHL we can trade Tatar at the trade deadline, move Domi to LW and put KK on the 1st line with Domi and Gallagher.
I think it would be best to keep Evans on the 4th line since his ceiling is to be a bottom 6 NHL forward anyways.
I brought in Kovalchuk as a 1 year stop-gap to hold the roster spot for 1 year for Caufield, according to all the rumors we have already all but signed Kovalchuk already. Hopefully Caufield would be ready to go for the 2021-22 season and grab that spot on the second line.
For fun I listed who I think are our top 10 prospects in the Habs system under the LTIR field.