Stuff

I personally don’t see the fit with Kane in any of the top three lines. While I don’t think Drouin lasts the full season in the lineup, only time will tell.

I think it would be criminal to slide Lehkonen out of the top 6, dude has far far far exceeded all expectations since joining the team.

I think the third line is pretty set at Wood-Colton-LOC

Kane is a fit on literally any teams top 9. Not adding him if they have the chance would be a mistake.

LOC is a 4th liner. I am one of the biggest LOC fans out there, but he's not a scorer and better suited for limited minutes. The team should absolutely look to upgrade that spot if they can. If not, it isn't the worst thing to have him at 3RW, but his best is on that bottom line.

As far as Lehkonen to the third line, that's a product of depth. Good teams have great players spread throughout the lineup. The Avs did it during their Cup run, Pittsburgh famously did it with Kessel in their winning years, and any team that can afford to do so should do it as well. It's not a demotion so much as the creation of a competitive advantage. In any case, I give the Drouin experiment about a 2 percent chance of succeeding, so it probably won't even be an issue. Drouin will likely be in the press box if everyone is healthy.

That Avs team that went deep into the playoffs was MILES deeper than this team lol. Lehkonen bumped to the 3rd whilst Drouin experiments in the top 6 would be a mistake.

As for Kane, I maintain my stance that he’s just not a good fit on this team unless you get him on the 2nd line with Nuke playing LW and RyJo at C.

Lehkonen-Mack-Rantanen
Nuke-RyJo-Kane
Wood-Colton- LOC

But that leaves Drouin without a home unless he centres the fourth line (as Cogs and Meyer are both LH already)

I don't give a flying crap if Drouin has a home or not. That doesn't stop me from signing an actual top 6 forward if the opportunity to do so is there. The team is miles better with Kane than Drouin. The only reason someone would move down is if Drouin actually succeds with Mack and Rants, which is a massive Longshot.

My top 9 would be the same as yours here, except that I'm hoping for someone with more scoring in LOCs spot. So really we're not that far apart.