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The Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets boast two the most talented forward groups and have the best records of Canadian franchises in the National Hockey League.
The clubs, led by the top two picks in the 2016 NHL Draft and the winner and runner up for the 2017 Calder Trophy; Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine meet in the first of a pair of matchups at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg on Wednesday.
Matthews is tied with Patrice Bergeron and Mikko Rantanen atop the NHL with 16 points, and with David Pastrnak with 10 goals, but has been held scoreless in losses to Pittsburgh and St. Louis, while Laine has five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in nine games for the Jets.
Leafs head coach Mike Babcock will make a pair of lineup changes for the first of the home-and-home series. Veteran winger Tyler Ennis will be inserted in place of Andreas Johnsson on the fourth line with Frederik Gauthier and Josh Leivo as part of a continuing rotation of the extra forwards.
Travis Dermott, who was -3 in the loss to the Blues on Saturday and was an extra skater at Leafs practice on Sunday, did not participate in the morning skate in Winnipeg on Wednesday due to illness and will be replaed by Martin Marincin on the bottom pairing alongside Igor Ozhiganov.
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The imbalance on the Leaf blueline continues to be an area of concern for the club, with a strong left side of Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner and Dermott and a rather weak group of Ron Hainsey, Nikita Zaitsev and Igor Ozhiganov on the right.
Not as glaring, but an area that may be of concern as the season progresses is the weakness of Toronto forwards at left wing, as opposed to their stacked talent on the right side.
The absence of William Nylander has not been as debilitating with Kasperi Kapanen being able to move up into the top six and Mitch Marner and Connor Brown being consistent performers, but there is not that sort of luxury on the left side.
Patrick Marleau and Zach Hyman each have five points. The 39-year-old veteran has not been as impactful and speedy playing on the wing with Matthews early in the season and the tireless work of Hyman is valuable, but may be slightly misplaced on the second line with John Tavares and Marner.
Par Lindholm was slated to be the fourth line center, but has been shifted to the checking line with Nazem Kadri and Brown. Johnsson has yet to show the spark that he displayed at the end of last year and during the Calder Cup Playoffs and has shared time with Ennis.
Babcock may by acknowledging the lack of depth and punch at left wing, shifting Lindholm and playing Kadri on the wing for the odd shift with Matthews or Tavares.
There have been suggestions that Kapanen could be shifted to the left side on the top line once Nylander signs, but the Leafs head coach seems as devoted to left shooters playing the left side and right shooters shooting on the right at forward as he is on defense.
One possible solution later in the season could be promoting from within. Trevor Moore impressed the Leafs head coach with his performance in training camp and the 23-year-old leads the Toronto Marlies with six goals in eight games.
Swedes Carl Grundstrom and Pierre Engvall are in their first full season in North America and have gotten off to good starts, as has third-year pro Dmytro Timashov. Mason Marchment just returned from an injury that kept him out for nearly all of training camp and might be the big energy forward that the Leafs needs in a depth role, but as the club gets closer to the deadline, rental options like Artemi Panarin, Jeff Skinner or Rick Nash could come into the picture if GM Kyle Dubas believes that upgrading in the top six without mortgaging the future is possible.
Our discussion... on the Leafs offensive offence and the next phase of this Nylander stalemate.
— Norman James (@NormanJamesTLC) October 23, 2018
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