It seems that the Leafs will have Morgan Rielly playing alongside Ron Hainsey on the top pairing, so as long as things goes as expected you can bet on that duo to be shutting down the oppositions top line. That of course leaves the duo of Gardiner and Zaitsev together on the second pairing and training camp/preseason will leave open who begins the season on the third pairing. It should be quite interesting, I personally am gunning for Travis Dermott to make the Leafs and play alongside Connor Carrick.
To me, the biggest question mark heading into this season when it comes to the Maple Leafs lineup is who will start with Auston Matthews and William Nylander?
Obviously a number of us Leafs fans already have newcomer Patrick Marleau pegged to play with the generational talent in Matthews and Nylander is certainly no slouch himself.
But don’t sell Zach Hyman short quite yet. We know three things about Hyman on that line, the first being that they have chemistry and success from last season and into the playoffs. There is no denying that, and who’s to say they couldn’t build off the chemistry they created last season and add to it? The second is that Mike Babcock is a big fan of Zach Hyman and his exceptional work ethic. Hyman digs deep, skates fast and has absolutely no fear when it comes to winning battles against bigger, stronger defensemen. Here’s the thing, he wins most of those battles and he does a fantastic job at dishing off the puck to one of Matthews or Nylander and lets them do what they do best, get the Leafs on the scoreboard.
This line was off the charts in even strength chances, producing a vast number of chances/shots and Matthews ended up scoring more goals than any other player in the NHL in 2016/17. That’s right, number one in even strength goals.
What else we know about Hyman on the Matthews/Nylander line is that if he can stick there and help that line out both offensively and defensively this creates another threat on a different line for the Leafs.
Sticking Marleau on a line with Bozak or Kadri would only improve that line overall and increase the Leafs depth as the opposition will struggle trying to shut down three beastly offensive lines.
Let’s take a look and see how a few different combinations could work out:
Marleau-Matthews-Nylander VanRiemsdyk-Bozak-Marner Hyman-Kadri-Brown Martin-Moore-Komarov
If Hyman were to stay with Matthews and Nylander:
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander VanRiemsdyk-Bozak-Marner Marleau-Kadri-Brown Martin-Moore-Komarov
Another option I came up with that looked intriguing was:
Marleau-Matthews-Nylander VanRiemsdyk-Bozak-Marner Komarov-Kadri-Brown Martin-Moore-Hyman
This would keep Hyman fresh and he would be the Leafs number one penalty killer as well as the duo of Komarov and Kadri which is feisty, annoying and productive.
The truth is the Leafs have never had so much offensive depth and you better believe Leivo has the itch to get in the lineup and that Kapanen will be determined to get into the mix as soon as possible.
With so much offensive depth could it be the Leafs do end up trading JVR instead of paying him handsomely at years end?
His production is on par for 55-60 points a season and he’s only 28 years old. A very tough decision for management as it’s not easy to replace these kinds of numbers.
So what line do you see Patrick Marleau on?
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!