So the Kings didn’t listen to me in how they constructed their 23-man roster to open the season.
Fine.
That won’t stop me from advising them on how they should arrange said 23 players into lines and pairs.
Here’s my Kings lineup to start the 2021-22 season (with some accounting for injuries):
Lineup
Iafallo – Kopitar – Brown = don’t fix it till it breaks
Kempe – Danault – Arvidsson = I think this gives the Kings more balance and two powerful top lines
Kaliyev – Vilardi – Tkachev = a sneaky potent third line that in a season or two might look like a top 6
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Moore = I love Moore and Grundstrom together on a fourth line (I like them better flanking JAD, but if we’re starting Lizotte instead then he’s the logical choice)
Anderson – Doughty = again, don’t break a nice match
Bjornfot – Roy = if Clague can’t crack the roster then fine, put Toby with Roy
Edler – Walker = could be one of the most impressive third pairs in the division?
Petersen with Quick backing up in net
Scratches
This puts as scratches Kupari for the time being and Brendan Lemieux. Kupari is likely up just while some others are working their way back from injury. Lemieux is technically ineligible at the time of writing because he is on the COVID protocol list. Andersson and Athanasiou have started the season on injured reserve. The offense will require some shuffling once these two A’s return, which should be shortly. The probables are Kupari and Kaliyev to go down, since they don’t need to clear waivers and were expected to play much of the season in Ontario. We can revisit the offensive lines once everyone is healthy, but my recommendation would be for both Andersson and AA to crack the lineup, with Lemieux and Lizotte as scratches. Of course, the unnamed and most significant injury is to Quinton Byfield, who is more likely to return in a couple months than a couple weeks. That eventual return may bump one more roster player from the Kings onto waivers (looking at you, Lizotte).
The scratches on defense: Christian Wolanin (to start the year) while Olli Maatta was injured. Now that Olli Maatta is healthy enough to be activated off of the injured reserve, it has bumped Wolanin onto waivers and — lo and behold, we’ve lost Wolanin to Buffalo for nothing. Would have rather waived Maatta (perhaps there’s still a chance for that).
Conclusion
As I wrote in my last article, I would have constructed the 23-man roster a bit differently, but using what the Kings have assembled, there are plenty of similarities to my suggestions and the actual lineup. I endorse starting Petersen in more games in net than Quick (maybe a 50-32 split?). All my defensive pairs are the same. For offense, I like a third line of Vilardi flanked by Tkachev and Kaliyev… at least while others are injured. The fourth line will always be jumbled. My real difference is with the Iafallo and Arvidsson flipped on the top two lines. That Iafallo-Kopi-Brown combo looked great last year, so why not see if they can keep it going? I don’t really have a problem with Arvidsson on the top line — in fact, I like him so much I’d like to bring his potent shot to the second line. Ultimately I agree with the top six as currently proposed, and I hope we’re open to rearranging these six to find good chemistry with some new players in the mix.
The Kings of Kings 