#teamsmash

 I'm starting with the opening night rosters for the 2016-17 season, for reference.

 GOALTENDERS

Let's start with goalies, because that's easy, only four players to choose from.

Choices (Oilers on the left, Leafs on the right): 33 Cam Talbot                                31 Frederick Andersen 50 Jonas Gustavsson                     35 Jhonas Enroth

OK, is there any debate on this? It's gonna be the starters, no question. There is some debate between the two as to who would be starter of them (Andersen reportedly has some issues with 50-50 splitting of starts), but it's gonna be Andersen and Talbot.

Andersen - Talbot

 DEFENCE

Both teams have some excellent D-men, and the coaches both have a tendency to mix it up. So it's gonna be about chemistry and versatility, not just stats.

Choices: 2 Andrej Sekera                                2 Matt Hunwick 4 Kris Russell                                    8 Connor Carrick 5 Mark Fayne                                    20 Frank Corrado 6 Adam Larsson                                22 Nikita Zaitsev 25 Darnell Nurse                               44 Morgan Rielly 77 Oscar Klefbom                             46 Roman Polak 83 Matt Benning                                51 Jake Gardiner 88 Brandon Davidson                       52 Martin Marincin

Obvious exclusions: Neither Corrado or Marincin have played much, and I wasn't terribly impressed with either. Davidson hasn't played much, though he's done well in recent games.

One of the good things about the Oilers' D-corps is that mostly you can throw any two of them together and they're pretty good. The Leafs are a bit less so, but they're still pretty flexible. That said, I don't like breaking up good D-pairs (yes, I have Bad Hockey Opinions, I already said this).

My favourite D-pair of these is Rielly and Zaitsev. They're good, they're flexible, they can attack without sacrificing defence. I don't think I really need to opine on it further, I'm following in Coach Babcock's footsteps here. My choice for first D-pair.

Klefbom and Larsson are the Oilers' most common lead D-pair, and for good reason. They're solid. They don't tend to set the world on fire, but they are dependable and pretty good on the transition. They'll probably work well with our third and fourth lines.

The dilemma with the third D-pair is to take an intact pair from each team, or to put together two guys who I think will work well. Of the remaining pairs, I like Sekera-Russell best - but I also want to see how my favourite Oilers D-man (Nurse) works with one of my favourite Leafs D-men (Gardiner). This is a serious toss-up and boy is it difficult. Ultimately, I'm gonna choose my Oilers boys because I know they work well together and because they have a similar style to the guys already here.

The seventh D-man is a pick of the rest - Gardiner is perhaps not exciting as Nurse, but he's put a lot of points on the board and has got a good chance of chemistry with the guys here.

Rielly - Zaitsev Klefbom - Larsson Sekera - Russell Gardiner

 FORWARDS

This is the difficult bit, and the bit that is gonna get controversial, most likely. The coaches like to mix it up in here, too, so most of the guys on a team have played with each other to some extent.

Choices: 14 Jordan Eberle                               11 Zach Hyman 15 Tyler Pitlick                                   12 Connor Brown 19 Patrick Maroon                             15 Matt Martin 29 Leon Draisaitl                                16 Mitch Marner 39 Jesse Puljujarvi                             18 Milan Michalek 42 Anton Slepyshev                           34 Auston Matthews 44 Zack Kassian                                21 James van Riemsdyk 51 Anton Lander                                24 Peter Holland 55 Mark Letestu                                 26 Nikita Soshnikov 27 Milan Lucic                                    29 William Nylander 67 Benoit Pouliot                               42 Tyler Bozak 93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins                  43 Nazem Kadri 97 Connor McDavid                           47 Leo Komarov

Obvious exclusions: Michalek and Holland didn't play a lot after their initial appearances: Michalek has had injury issues and Holland was traded mid-season.

Let's not beat about the bush here: we have a lot, a lot, of weapons available to us on these lists, but the best of them are (indisputably?) Matthews and McDavid. We know these two have great chemistry - Team North America - and they are both lethal in different ways that mesh really, really well. If we're gonna take this game to its logical and at-least-mildly-ridiculous conclusion, you know who's rounding off this line: Mitch Marner. In terms of chemistry, playstyle and ability to keep up, he's one of - if not the only - player who can keep up with McDavid and Matthews.

To back up the sheer firepower of that first line, we need a playmaking, solid second line. Nazem Kadri is criminally underrated, for the most part, but give him good wings and he can create holes in almost any defence. I think that this would mesh well with the hard-hitting, high-scoring pair of Draisaitl and Maroon, who take a lot of shots and clear up well around the net. Kadri and Maroon's abilities to clear lanes and puncture the defence would clear the way for Draisaitl's shot.

Let's go to the fourth line next. In the systems run by both Babcock and McLellan, fast, skilled players are backed up by a hard-hitting checking line. Two players on these teams stand out as fighters and checkers: Martin and Lucic. But they're both solidly left wings. If one of them could switch over, I'd have them both; on balance, I'd take Martin as he's a bit quicker (and Lucic's stats may have been impacted by being on a line with McDavid). In the meantime, Zach Kassian is a good right wing and pretty versatile. For your centre, you can go one of two ways: a good, mobile centre who can hit hard - Bozak - or a big guy who can still make the plays - Komarov. We know Bozak and Martin have good chemistry, so I'd go with that pair as a base, and Kassian on right wing.

Third line is the most complicated, mainly because we have so many quality players left. From the Leafs, top points-getters we haven't yet looked at include van Riemsdyk and Nylander, as well as the dynamic duo of Brown and Hyman (though there's plenty of arguments to be had about how much being on a line with Matthews affects points). The Oilers have Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle, who have fallen off a bit recently but are always in the conversation, and Letestu, who quietly but consistently put points on the board. There's also the argument for a different-style line to change up the pace - Slepyshev-Komarov-Soshnikov as an all-Russian line could be a hard-hitting choice, but none of these guys are particularly strong in the scoring, so I would exclude this choice.

Nylander-Hyman-Brown (or Hyman-Nylander-Brown) is a line that could be dynamite, but also lacks experience - they're an all-rookie line. Centreing some combination of them with Letestu could balance that out. Ultimately the question comes down to versatility and likely scoring numbers, as well as chemistry with their defence. The highest scorer we've listed here is van Riemsdyk, a left wing, and Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle would match up as centre and right wing with similar numbers. Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle also have proven chemistry with the second D-pair of Klefbom-Larsson, which would tighten up defensive play and transition, a weakness of both the Oilers and the Leafs.

The best choice for thirteenth man is Nylander - he's a centre who's played at both wings, is a good scorer and has proven chemistry with most of the Leafs forwards.

Matthews - McDavid - Marner Maroon - Kadri - Draisaitl van Riesmdyk - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle Martin - Bozak - Kassian Nylander

 CONCLUSIONS

So there's my full lineup:

Matthews - McDavid - Marner Maroon - Kadri - Draisaitl van Riesmdyk - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle Martin - Bozak - Kassian Nylander

Rielly - Zaitsev Klefbom - Larsson Sekera - Russell Gardiner

Andersen - Talbot

I think that this lineup would make a hell of a splash and hopefully win things. They'd favour a style based on speed, skill, puck possession, and chemistry, similar to the one that Babcock and McLellan already run - which are descendants of the system that took the Red Wings to the Final and the Cup in 08-09, and has been Team Canada's primary style since Babcock took over.

Naturally, some of those forward lines would probably be split up on occasion and probably stuffed in a blender when the coaches felt like it. I haven't put up the Special Teams, probably a topic for another day. But I've had fun!