Thought we could get a little discussion going on the potential lineups for opening night. I realize that there may be players swapped out before then but it's the middle of summer so use what you got.
Since no new top 6 centers were brought in we have to assume Domi/Danault will be the top 2 again until KK rounds to form.
Drouin-Domi-Byron
Tatar-Danault-Gallagher
Lehkonen-KK-Armia
Weal-Thompson-Cousins
That's pretty fugly actually. I don't see where Poehling will slot in so unless he knocks it out of the park at camp I think he starts the year in Laval. Jake Evans has a shot at the bottom 6 as the Habs are thin at RW but again, I don't think he starts the season in Montreal.
Mete-Weber
Kulak-Petry
Chiarot-Folin
Reilly
I still am not a fan of the left side. Maybe Fleury or Brook impress enough at camp to displace Folin however that still doesn't help on the left side. Romanov still has a year left on his KHL deal and the rest of the LD in the system are serious long shots.
Price
Kinkaid
The Habs will once again go as far as goaltending will take them. We can expect Drouin to maybe do a little better this season (hopefully) but we can also expect some regression from some career years last season.
All-in-all I just don't see enough improvement to jump into the top 6 in the conference. Other teams got better, Habs really didn't.. Can they finish 7 or 8? Sure, if things go right and Kinkaid provides better goaltending than Niemi did, however I just don't see the required improvement. The Habs will play teams hard as that is what Julien demands but where is the offense coming from outside Gallagher and Domi?
