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I will only say that when you had a heart and soul guy like Cody Croal sitting in the stands when guys that wouldn’t engage physically were staples in the lineup was an indictment on how far we moved away from our culture, which is why the overuse of the word “culture” irritated many who believed their eyes rather than a catchphrase.

Great question, but I need to check where the playoffs currently stand before making predictions!Great, now I have a clear picture. Here's what's left: Final Four teams remaining: West Final: COL vs VGK (starts tonight, COL favored 60.5%) East Final: CAR vs MTL (starts tomorrow, CAR favored 63.7%) So the perfect final lineup needs players from these 4 teams only, with potentially 4-7 more games per series plus a Cup Final of up to 7 games — meaning top producers from these teams will rack up a lot more points. Projected Perfect Final Lineup (building on current stats, assuming heavy production from all 4 remaining teams): Forwards (9): Player Tm Current PTS Why Mitch Marner VEG 18 Already the points leader, still playing Jack Eichel VEG 15 Assist machine, still alive Nathan MacKinnon COL 13 Best player in the West, deep run likely Kirill Kaprizov MIN 15 Already eliminated — holds his 15 Nick Suzuki MTL 13 Still alive, CAR series ahead Tage Thompson BUF 15 Already eliminated — holds his 15 Matt Boldy MIN 13 Eliminated — holds his 13 Pavel Dorofeyev VEG 11 9 goals, still playing — could surge Logan Stankoven CAR 8 7 goals, still alive with deep run potential Defensemen (6): Player Tm Current PTS Why Lane Hutson MTL 14 Still alive, more games to add Quinn Hughes MIN 15 Eliminated — holds his 15 Rasmus Dahlin BUF 14 Eliminated — holds his 14 K'Andre Miller CAR 6 Still alive, could add significantly Shea Theodore VEG 9 Still playing, West Final ahead Brock Faber MIN 10 Eliminated — holds his 10 Key reasoning: COL, VGK, CAR, MTL players will all add points — potentially 10-20+ more per top producer Marner and Eichel could finish with 25-30 pts if VEG goes deep MacKinnon could easily crack 20+ with a Cup Final run Hutson and Suzuki give MTL representation if they upset CAR Dorofeyev is a sneaky pick — 9 goals already and underrated The biggest wildcard is how far MTL goes — if they upset CAR, Hutson and Suzuki could rocket up the charts and potentially displace some of the already-eliminated players. Want me to run two versions — one where COL & CAR win the Finals, and one where VGK & MTL pull upsets?

Great question! Let me work through this carefully using the rules: 9 forwards, 6 defensemen Max 5 players per team Maximize total points Step 1 — Top Forwards by Points: Player Tm Pos PTS Mitch Marner VEG RW 18 Jack Eichel VEG C 15 Tage Thompson BUF C 15 Quinn Hughes* MIN D 15 Kirill Kaprizov MIN LW 15 Nathan MacKinnon COL C 13 Nick Suzuki MTL C 13 Matt Boldy MIN LW 13 Taylor Hall CAR LW 12 Cutter Gauthier ANA LW 12 *Hughes is a D, not a forward Step 2 — Top Defensemen by Points: Player Tm Pos PTS Quinn Hughes MIN D 15 Lane Hutson MTL D 14 Rasmus Dahlin BUF D 14 Brock Faber MIN D 10 Jackson LaCombe ANA D 10 Shea Theodore VEG D 9 Step 3 — Check the 5-player team cap: Proposed roster: VEG: Marner (18), Eichel (15), Theodore (9) = 3 ✅ MIN: Kaprizov (15), Boldy (13), Hughes (15), Faber (10) = 4 ✅ BUF: Thompson (15), Dahlin (14) = 2 ✅ MTL: Suzuki (13), Hutson (14) = 2 ✅ CAR: Hall (12) = 1 ✅ ANA: Gauthier (12), LaCombe (10) = 2 ✅ 9 forwards, 6 defensemen, all team caps respected ✅ The Perfect Lineup: Forwards Tm PTS Mitch Marner VEG 18 Jack Eichel VEG 15 Kirill Kaprizov MIN 15 Tage Thompson BUF 15 Nathan MacKinnon COL 13 Nick Suzuki MTL 13 Matt Boldy MIN 13 Taylor Hall CAR 12 Cutter Gauthier ANA 12 Defensemen Tm PTS Quinn Hughes MIN 15 Lane Hutson MTL 14 Rasmus Dahlin BUF 14 Brock Faber MIN 10 Jackson LaCombe ANA 10 Shea Theodore VEG 9 Total: 198 points  

Above produced by Claude Sonnet 4.6

Participant Remaining Players Current PTS The Sicatoka MacKinnon (13), Nečas (11), Makar (5), Eichel (15), Suzuki (13), Hutson (14) 71 petey23 MacKinnon (13), Makar (5), Eichel (15) 33 tnt MacKinnon (13), Nečas (11), Makar (5), Malinski (3), Aho (4), Gostisbehere (2), Eichel (15) 53 stoneySIOUX MacKinnon (13), Nečas (11), Makar (5), Nelson (3), Aho (4), Gostisbehere (2) 38 Goon MacKinnon (13), Nečas (11), Makar (5), Toews (8), Gostisbehere (2) 39 Shawn-O (Grok) MacKinnon (13), Nečas (11), Makar (5), Malinski (3), Aho (4), Gostisbehere (2), Svechnikov (3), Miller (6), Jarvis (4) 51 Shawn-O (ChatGPT) MacKinnon (13), Nečas (11), Toews (8), Burns (3), Aho (4), Svechnikov (3) 42 Participant Total PTS Gap to Leader The Sicatoka 147 — petey23 137 -10 tnt 125 -22 stoneySIOUX 121 -26 Goon 108 -39 Shawn-O (Grok) 103 -44 Shawn-O (ChatGPT) 95 -52 Key notes: The Sicatoka is effectively locked in to win — Hutson and Suzuki are exclusive to them and still producing petey23 holds 2nd but only has 3 players left — all shared with others, so their lead can only shrink tnt is the most likely challenger for 2nd with 7 remaining players Shawn-O (Grok) has the most remaining players (9) but is too far back to realistically contend