Thoughts? (Sorry for the over detailed explanation)
Personally, I would love to go into next season with this lineup.
Goalies - You give yourself an top goalie tandem in Kuemper and Campbell, who both are injury prone. Would have confidence that at least one of them is capable of playing at an elite level and taking us deep in the playoffs. (If the Coyotes won't trade Kuemper, I would have Drieger as the 1b at a cost that would take most of the remaining cap room, and change the trade slightly, maybe meaning Dermott is part of the package instead of Liljegren and one of the picks are removed from the trade.)
Defence - bring back a defence that performed well last season even with your number 1 defenseman struggling (I'm confident in a bounce back year from Rielly after what I saw in the playoffs).
Top 6 - Went back to the old duos in Marner/Tavares, Nylander/Matthews. They have the chemistry already, and Matthews/Marner don't need each other to succeed, they still have elite talent on their lines also. Tavares will THRIVE with Marner, and adding Garland will make them a top line in the NHL. They can handle any responsibility, any matchup, are good defensively, and elite all around offensively. It will work better for the playoffs where teams can't just overload defend Matthews and dare Marner to shoot and score. That line is the complete package. The second line is interesting. Could be one of the highest scoring lines across the league. It comes down to whether or not they can battle for pucks or not. If they aren't willing to do that, it won't work. If they are, this line would also be unstoppable offensively. I have them as the second line because against a top line I would trust the first line to be more responsible defensively, but against second lines and sometimes less offensively talented first lines, it sounds perfect. I certainly can see this being the best top 6 in the NHL. If it isn't working, you can change it up because you know Matthews and Marner work together (regular season wise).
Bottom 6 - 3rd line is somewhat similar to the Tampa 3rd line. I want Galch to be that Gourde type of player. Goodrow is Goodrow. We never saw Foligno healthy and never saw him at his best, he can be a great forechecker, get his hands dirty, be good defensively and on the penalty kill, and put up a decent amount of points. The 4th line is a chance for Brooks and Anderson to prove what they can do. The Leafs love Anderson because they believe he can be similar to what Hyman was, which would be massive for the team. I'm very excited to see his potential. Spezza will play the role he played so well last year, and Brooks will look to show more of what he did in the regular season. Swapping Spezza and Galch is also an option, you can experiment with that bottom 6 during the regular season. Having Simmonds and Nash as extras is perfect. Use them rotationally and if they outperform other guys stick them in as regulars. Simmonds was great pre-injury and brings that grit. Nash is a great extra for the playoffs, a great piece against some teams as a shutdown center, useless against a team like Montreal that doesn't have a specific line needing to be shutdown.
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