It’s summer and nothing is happening. Let’s play some weird roster games.

This one comes from reader Darryl F., who tweeted it at me five years ago. Yes, the “weird ideas” list goes back that far. Much further, actually. Look, you probably don’t want to know some of the stuff that’s been sitting there for going on a decade, but I can’t promise that you won’t find out by mid-August.

For now, the game is simple: Make the best six-man starting lineup possible for your favorite team, without repeating any initials. So if you want to use Joe Smith, that’s your J and your S spoken for, meaning you can’t also use John Williams or Tommy Simpson.

Easy enough, right? But first, a few ground rules™:

• We want three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie. No other positional requirements.

• You get credit for whatever that player did on that team. If the Blues want to use Martin Brodeur, they get seven games, not four Vezinas.

• In cases where there’s confusion over what a player’s actual name was, we’ll go by whatever Hockey-Reference uses. So it’s Maurice (not Rocket) Richard, but Gump (not Lorne) Worsley.

As always, we’ll do about a dozen teams and then hand it over to you in the comments to fill out any others. We’ll start with the team that’s become our unofficial leadoff hitter for these sorts of things …

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers feel like a solid test case because they’ve got a ton of great players, and at least a few of them had less common initials. For example, Wayne Gretzky is an obvious pick, and he doesn’t wipe out too many other options. Connor McDavid’s M does some damage, but we’ll live with it. Our other forward spot could be Leon Draisaitl, although Jari Kurri might work better. (Of course, we can’t use Mark Messier, as anyone with double-letter initials eliminates themselves.)

The back end gets tricky, though. We can’t use Grant Fuhr in net, because Gretzky took our G. Paul Coffey is out, thanks to Connor, as is Charlie Huddy and one year of Chris Pronger. Either Kurri or Draisaitl takes out Kevin Lowe. And we can use Evan Bouchard or Bill Ranford, but not both.

This might be tougher than it looks. But you knew that was going to happen.

In the end, this is the best I could come up with:

Forwards: Wayne Gretzky, Connor McDavid, Jari Kurri

Defense: Evan Bouchard, Lee Fogolin

Goalie: Dwayne Roloson

Not bad, but not exactly the juggernaut you might expect from a team with Edmonton’s history. Let’s try another team that has a rich history.

Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux in 2005. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)Pittsburgh Penguins

Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby are non-negotiable, but Jaromir Jagr is out because he’s a double, and Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Kris Letang all get taken out by Lemieux. Still, I feel like there’s enough firepower up front that we end up with a better team than the Oilers did, even when we leave the blue line for last and pay for it.

Forwards: Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Ron Francis

Defense: Brooks Orpik, Darius Kasparaitis

Goalie: Tristan Jarry

Let’s try some Original Six teams …

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Leafs are a mess. Pretty much anyone you start with ends up taking out another obvious name. Want Doug Gilmour? No Darryl Sittler or Dave Keon. Want Mats Sundin? No Börje Salming or Syl Apps. Auston Matthews? Say goodbye to George Armstrong, Frank Mahovlich and Dave Andreychuk. You get the picture.

Still, with over a century of history to draw from, we find enough talent for a solid roster. And yes, we’re probably too heavy on the 1993 squad here. You saw the byline on this article before you started reading, yes?

Forwards: Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark, Auston Matthews

Defense: Börje Salming, Tim Horton

Goalie: Felix Potvin

Let’s keep going with the old teams …

Boston Bruins

We start with Bobby Orr as a non-negotiable, then immediately hit a tough call: Phil Esposito or Eddie Shore? On most teams, that’s a tough call. On this one, knowing we have the deepest pool of star blueliners in the league, we’ll cut Shore and take our chances. It works out because while Orr means we can’t use Ray Bourque or Brad Park, we still have Zdeno Chara. We can fill in around that trio to form a very solid entry.

Forwards: Phil Esposito, Milt Schmidt, Ken Hodge

Defense: Bobby Orr, Zdeno Chara

Goalie: Tuukka Rask

It would have been nice to be able to fit in Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak or even Cam Neely up front, but this is still a very solid team. Let’s try one more Original Six entry …

Montreal Canadiens

Maurice Richard means no Larry Robinson or Patrick Roy, and we have to choose between Jacques Plante and Jean Beliveau, but the Canadiens have such an embarrassment of riches that we don’t have too much trouble assembling a powerhouse.

Forwards: Maurice Richard, Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau

Defense: Doug Harvey, Shea Weber

Goalie: Carey Price

The only weak-ish spot is the second defenseman, since we’re only getting the tail end of Weber’s HHOF career. That makes me wonder if we’ll be able to find any teams at all where all six spots are trouble-free. For now, Montreal is clearly our clubhouse leader, and I seriously doubt anyone will challenge them.

Let’s give some of the newer teams a try …

Los Angeles Kings

We start with some optimism, since they get a still-dominant version of Gretzky and one of the most productive left wingers ever in Luc Robitaille, plus a goalie who uses a Q. But we lose Drew Doughty to the doubles rule, and with Rob Blake out of the picture, the blue line is thin.

Forwards: Wayne Gretzky, Anze Kopitar, Luc Robitaille

Defense: Steve Duchesne, Mark Hardy

Goalie: Jonathan Quick

Speaking of left-wingers who scored a bit …

Washington Capitals

Alex Ovechkin is a really nice start here, and team history suggests that, for once, the blue line won’t be the problem. Here’s what I came up with:

Forwards: Alex Ovechkin, Mike Gartner, Evgeny Kuznetsov

Defense: Rod Langway, John Carlson

Goalie: Braden Holtby

Ovechkin takes out Olaf Kolzig, which forces us to use Holtby, which takes out Peter Bondra and Nicklas Backstrom. Still, this all comes together pretty nicely. It’s not a better lineup than Montreal’s, but it’s more pleasing, if that makes sense.

Let’s stay in the Metro for one more …

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers have never had a truly transcendent star on the blue line. Worse, their closest option, Mark Howe, means we can’t use Ron Hextall in goal. That’s a problem, because we also lose Bernie Parent if we want Bobby Clarke, and Pelle Lindbergh if we want Eric Lindros, and after that … yikes. Flyers fans, did you know that you haven’t had a lot of great goalies over the years? Oh, you did know that? Cool, let me know if you want any of these batteries back.

In the end, I did what felt like the unthinkable and traded Clarke for Parent and Claude Giroux. I don’t love it, but at least it avoids any weird dressing room chemistry with Lindros.

Forwards: Eric Lindros, Claude Giroux, Tim Kerr

Defense: Mark Howe, Jimmy Watson

Goalie: Bernie Parent

I don’t feel good about that one. Let’s try a more recent team.

Ottawa Senators

We’ve only got about three decades to work with, and a lot of that was, uh, not especially useful for our purposes. But the good news is that the Senators have apparently drafted with initials in mind, because once you get past the Daniel Alfredsson vs. Alexei Yashin non-debate, we don’t run into much conflict at all.

Forwards: Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Brady Tkachuk

Defense: Erik Karlsson, Wade Redden

Goalie: Patrick Lalime

Other than Yashin and maybe Craig Anderson, that’s pretty much everyone you’d want. We even have room to add pre-Norris Zdeno Chara instead of Redden, although Sens fans might prefer not to be reminded of that whole debate.

St. Louis Blues

We can start building around one of the greatest center/wing combos of all time, although Adam Oates does cost us Al MacInnis and Alex Pietrangelo, while Brett Hull costs us the Plagers. That leads to another weak-ish blue-line spot, although overall I feel like this roster captures the spirit of the Blues well enough.

Forwards: Brett Hull, Adam Oates, Robert Thomas

Defense: Chris Pronger, Justin Faulk

Goalie: Mike Liut

Two teams to go. We’ll try one very new and one very old.

Vegas Golden Knights

I was going to do Seattle until I realized Jared McCann takes out both Jordan Eberle and Matty Beniers, at which point I rage quit. So instead, let’s try Vegas.

Forwards: Jack Eichel, William Karlsson, Ivan Barbashev

Defense: Shea Theodore, Nicolas Hague

Goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury

Leaving Jonathan Marchessault off the team hurt, but he would have cost us Eichel and Fleury, and the Knights have taught me that there’s no loyalty in sports. Still, this is an annoyingly solid lineup for a team that’s been around since this morning.

OK, one more from the other side of the spectrum …

Nicklas Lidstrom and Steve Yzerman in 2006. (Dave Sandford / Getty Images)Detroit Red Wings

The good news is that the big three — Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom — don’t step on each other. They do cost us names such as Ted Lindsay, Sergei Fedorov, Terry Sawchuk and even Dylan Larkin. Still, there may not be a lineup that fits together as easily.

Forwards: Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Alex Delvecchio

Defense: Nicklas Lidstrom, Red Kelly

Goalie: Chris Osgood

It felt right to give the last forward spot to a recently departed legend, although you could also go with Pavel Datsyuk if you prefer. Either way, we’ve got five Hall of Famers and one guy that Wings fans will die swearing should be there too. Does this squad beat the Canadiens? They absolutely might.

OK, now it’s over to you. Want to try the Blackhawks or Rangers, the two Original Six teams we didn’t touch? Does anyone have the guts to try Seattle, or even one year of Utah? Islanders fans, want to decide between Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy? Flames fans, ready to find out you’ve only ever had three truly good goalies and they all get wiped out by Al MacInnis? Panthers fans, want to know what it feels like to have trouble keeping all your best players in the same lineup for once? Have at it, and let me know what you come up with in the comments.

(Top photo of Connor McDavid and Wayne Gretzky in 2016: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)