Possible Maple Leafs Lines

Over the past couple days I'vve though of what lines our team might have. There were many diffrent combos that I could come up with and I'm about to show you which ones are my favorite. I was very pleased with all the signings we made as they all made sense for us and Brian did a great job not spending too much.

First line

Phil Kessel - Tim Connolly - Nazem Kadri: Now there are a lot of parts to this line. I like Kessel obviously as the finisher and the goal scorer. With a guy like Connolly I see him getting around 35+ goals. I hope I'm not expecting too much. Now Connolly of course our new centre is going to play a huge part on this line. He is a nice centreman who if healthy can get us 60 70 points I feel. Now a part of this line that everybody might say should go to Lupul I say should go to Kadri. I feel like Kadri plays like Lupul just all around better. Kadri is a fiesty little guy, who is going to get us some big points. I like his aggresiveness and his role. I think he could be a great addition to this first line and I could see him getting around 50 points if he gets all the playing time.

Second line:

Clarke MacArthur - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin: Umm I'm glad we signed Clarke. Great amount for a guy of his skill. Ville Leino had 53 points last year and signed for $4.5M for 6 years while Clarke had 60 points and signed for $3.25M for 2 years. Brian you are a wizard. Anyways this line really needs no introduction. Clarke will be the everything guy (play maker, hitter, grinder). Kulemin will be the goal scorer, and Grabo will do a little mix up of both.

Third line:

Colby Armstrong - Tyler Bozak -Joffrey Lupul: I would love for Lombardi to be playing in this spot but that is unlikely. So this is what I feel like is another great option. Armstrong brings in the grit, this guy skates around hits, blocks shots does everything asked of him and he can still put in an offensive side. This guy could easily get us 15 goals and around 40 some points. Bozak is the skill. He is small but strong and good defensively, he will be the set up guy and add some skill to this third line. Lupul is all around good. He kind of plays the same as Colby hits, plays hard and can chip in on the offensive side. I think we can expect a bit more offense out of Lupul as he probably is more skilled offensively. From him I'm expecting 20+ goals and 50 points, but I know that's expecting a lot out of him.

Fourth line:

Joey Crabb - Darryl Boyce - Mike Brown: This will just be your typical fourth line. Crabb hits and can throw in some offense every now and then. Boyce probably the same kinda description. I really like Brown who hits hard, gets gritty, and you don't see it much but his offensive skills are pretty good and can suprise me sometimes.

Shots at cracking the team: Matthew Lombardi ( depending on injury), Joe Colborne, Luca Caputi.

First line D:

Dion Phaneuf - Keith Aulie: This is a pretty good line. Phaneuf, I think, is due for a strong season and hopefully will show why he wears the C on his jersey. Aulie in his first full season and his second cup of tea in the bigs is due to breakout. I see him having a nice season as a defensive defenseman.

Second line:

Luke Shenn - John-Michael Liles: I am really excited for this line. Shenn will be doing what he does great defensively throwing out some big hits and being nasty while throwing in some offense every now and then. Liles is going to be the offensive guy. He will be our PP QB and hopefully a good one. Playing with a guy like Shenn he will have a lot of offensive plays he can risk because his partner is so good defensively. I like this line.

Third line:

Carl Gunarsson - Cody Franson: Guns really came out last year having a breakout of sorts. I like him this year and think down the road he has the potential to be a top 4 D man. I like this new guy we got Franson. From what I hear he is good on offense and a PP specialist, just what our team needs.

Mike Komisarek: I really don't know what's going to happen to him. Maybe he will be our 7th guy, maybe he will be put in the minors or bought out. Maybe he will be traded but I highly doubt it Brian is a wizard not God.

Goalies:

James Reimer: Big year for this guy. Last year he played about half a season and did great. With some world experience in the World Championships and what not I think he will be even better expecting big things out of this guy.

Backup? This is really unknown for me right now it looks to be Jonas Gustavsson but I don't know how much I like that. With Reimer being so young I would like a proven guy behind him who could help him out. A vet goalie that's out there that I really would like to sign to backup and help mentor Reimer is Marty Turco. If he could sign for cheap I would be very happy.

And this is how our team will look. Or at least i hope so.