Sniper Line: After 5 Games, the 1st line just isn’t effective 5on5, so time to switch things up by promoting Mangiapane to 1RW. Mang is Much Faster and a Better Play Driver than Toffoli who so far has 0 Goals and only 1 Assist 5on5 (his only Even Strength Goal so far was in OT 3on3, he’s most effective and Best Deployed on the PP).

Energy Line: We could put Ritchie at 2RW and Lewis at 4RW, but I don’t want to mess with the 4th line, which has been fairly effective thus far, so would elect to bring in Ruzicka to play 2RW, as he should be a decent Passer, Playmaker and Offensive Line Mate for Dube & Kadri

Shut Down Line: Leave Coleman at RW and have him Crash the Net and Retrieve Pucks in the Corners and Behind the Net and have him throw them in front for the Hovering Toffoli & Backlund to Net or the Defense to Shoot on Net Keeping the Play & Possession in the O-Zone. Toffoli is Effective on the Back Check, constantly Stick Checking guys like Draisaitl & McDavid off the Puck

Checking Line: Again, no sense in messing with Line 4. Lucic looks good thus far and Ritchie has been Lucky, I’d just like to see more from Rooney and for him to win more Faceoffs (only 43.3% on the dot)

Top Minutes D-Pairing: Hanifin is struggling so far, so promote Weegar to play with Andersson

Shut Down D-Pairing: Zadorov is having a Great Start to his Season; he & Tanev would be Very Tough to Enter the Zone against

Bottom-Pairing: Put the Defensively Responsible Hanifin with the Hard Checking and Offensively Gifted Stone. Deploy them in the Offensive Zone with a Face Off Winner like Backlund (63.2 FO%) or Lindholm (49.5 FO%) and have Stone Blast it on Net from the Point to create Scoring Chances. Stone deserves far more Ice-Time & Starts in the Offensive Zone

#1 Skilled PP Unit: The #1 PP Unit has been decent, but I don’t understand why Kadri (just 41.6% on the Dot) is taking FaceOffs over Lindholm (49.5%). I would keep things familiar and other than bringing in Toffoli as our Top PP Specialist, leave Huberdeau (who seems most comfortable distributing the puck from the base line) with Lindholm & Mangiapane. Having Toffoli & Anderson at the point allows One-Timers from the Point or when Pinching on the Play to an Opening

#2 Get Puck On Net & Clean Up the Garbage PP Unit: Having Lucic on the PP is debatable, but he’s Very Good at FaceOffs and would be the Guy I’d want in Front of the Net when Stone is the one out there Blasting Shots on Net (I'd hate to lose one of our Stars or Key Players taking a Shot from Stone) . Backlund should not be on the PP anymore imo. Let Dube & Kadri Hover around and Crash the Net looking for Garbage Rebounds & Deflections they can Net with their Quick Releases. I think Weegar would be decent on the PP, but again, going with familiarity, use Hanifin (who has a Good Shot + Offensive Awareness) with his D-Partner Stone, who again deserves far more PP Time than just 19 Seconds; he’s Very Effective in the O-Zone

Top PK Unit: Lindy is our Most Effective PK Forward and I see he & Dube finishing a lot more Short Handed Opportunities together than Backlund, who just isn’t the finisher he once was. Once again, keeping with familiarity, keep Zadorov & Tanev together as the Main Shut Down Pairing

Alternate PK Unit: Backlund is our Best FaceOff Taker and should be our Defensive Specialist. Coleman is a PK Specialist as well, so those 2 together with Top D-Men Hanifin & Weegar make for a Very Good Penalty Killing Unit as well

Goaltending: Make no mistake, Markstrom is our Starter, but he has shown weakness and may have been exploited by the Oilers in the Playoffs as having a Weak Glove Hand. Teams are shooting high on him and he has allowed some weak Goals Glove side. Vladar might be best used against Fast Teams with High End Snipers, like the Oilers, Avalance, Kings, Capitals, Bruins, Penguins, Blue Jackets, Senators and Sabres. Vladar has Faster Reflexes and appears to be better on Breakaways and Closing the 5-Hole too

I don't think they shouldn't break up that 2nd line. Easily been our best line

Fair point but we also don’t want to Break Up Backlund & Coleman…

The alternative other than a Trade of course is to put Ruzicka, Ritchie or Matthew Phillips at 1RW which isn’t ideal either, although I’d like to see Phillips & Ruzicka be given a chance

i think keep the same lines but swap toff and mang

Certainly the easiest option, but I think Toff would help Coleman & Backlund's line produce more Secondary Scoring

Acquiring Max Domi, Alex Kerfoot or Craig Smith 50-75% retained would be alternative 3rd Line Wing options as well, definitely better than Lewis, but I'd really like Luke Kunin if he comes available

Until then, Ruzicka should be inserted in the lineup afaic

The chemistry on the 1st line isn’t there yet, but I also don’t think you break them up yet. Give them a little more runway to sort out the disjointedness.
2nd line is good, leave it be. I like the DNA line
3rd line, I would like to see Ruzie take Lewis’ spot for 10 games and see what transpires, not 1 game. Give them a bit of time together also.
4th line I’m with you leave it be as the energy line.
I disagree about Hannifin and his absence was noticeable against Buffalo. Leave Hannifin and Anderson together.
Without Kyl, Tanev to me hasn’t looked as good with Weegar. But I don’t know the solution?
For me a pairing I think could be very good is Big Z and Weegar, but I know I’m in the minority.
PP #1 should be Mang - Kadri - Lindholm with Hubie and Anderson, and run a 1-3-1, Mang down low, floating in and out of the front of the net, Hubie running off the wings as a floater off the side walls, Kadri and Lindy moving in and out of the bunker position depending what side of the ice the puck is on. And Anderson up top.
PP #2 mix up the look and go with an umbrella and put Looch in front of the net. Have Toffoli on the LW boards, Weegar on LD, Stone on RD, and Dube on the RW boards. Move it around and keep firing.

My thoughts were actually based on the BUF game too, where Zadarov played with Andersson and Weegs & Tanev weren't impressive either. Alao, Andersson shouldn't be playing 28 minutes in a game with Stone only playing 12.5 like what happened last night. Have Hanifin be Stone's Partner & Defensive Protector and spread out the TOI more evenly

I don't particularly care for Andersson on the PP tbh, if Weegar's going to be on the PP, it should be to replace Andersson. Weegar & Stone together on the PP is a defensive liability imo, they gave up a SH Goal this season together already, hence again why I'd like Stone partnered with Hanifin 5on5 & on the PP

I don't disagree about moving Weegs to RD with Zadorov, but then I'd have it:

Hanifin-Andersson
Zadorov-Weegar
Mackey-Tanev

But I Love Stone in the lineup

I wouldnt mind seeing Ruzicka or Phillips on that top line for a couple of games just to see the outcome

Why the heck not, right!?

I can't see them doing any worse 5on5 than Toffoli or CGY missing Lewis in the lineup to play one of them and Phillips is Waivers Exempt for a couple weeks since he already Cleared Waivers, right!?

Like you said earlier, not ideal, but if after 10-20 games the current 1st line isn't quite cutting it, why not try it.
But we have to give that first line some time, its only been 5 games.

Plus Pre-Season, but yeah, I'm not a very patient person and hold the opinion either it works or it doesn't, so I'd be switching it up