Toronto Maple Leafs: Two Players Have the Inside Track
The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to have set a regular season lineup for tonight’s game.
We’ll be seeing a more realistic Toronto Maple Leafs lineup tonight, one that will probably resemble their actual roster come October 4.
Recently, Mike Babcock had said that the fourth line center role was up for grabs and the participants included Dominic Moore, Eric Fehr, Ben Smith and Miro Aaltonen.
Moore was perceived as the front-runner, Fehr as a solid option, Smith a not likely (in my opinion) and as for Aaltonen, most just didn’t know what to expect, myself included.
The other hole in the lineup has to do with the Leafs bottom pairing on the blueline.
Connor Carrick’s bottom right spot was and his to lose, so I don’t think he’ll be losing that, but the bottom left side has been wide open.
Martin Marincin was probably an option not too long ago but has probably played himself out of that role.
The other contestants include, but aren’t limited to, Calle Rosen, Andreas Borgman, and Travis Dermott.
It appears after some juggling around, there are two players that have the inside track for these vacant positions.
And that’s according to Babs himself, so let’s take a look.
The Inside Track
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We’ll start things off with the fourth line center position because that’s the one that nobody really expected competition for.
Being honest, I thought (as did many others) that Moore was a lock for this because the Leafs had gone out of their way to sign him to a one-year, $1 million contract in the offseason.
Well, he hasn’t exactly given himself the best chance to suit up and that’s where Aaltonen steps into play.
He’s impressed Babcock enough to have him skate in the Leafs lineup tonight, centering Matt Martin and Connor Brown on the fourth line.
Next up to bat is Rosen for the bottom left pairing, who appears to also sit in Babcock’s favor, having skated in this mornings groupings.
He’ll play alongside Carrick tonight.
Now, Babcock did caution media (sorry, not sorry) about not reading too much into these two playing tonight.
"I knew this would happen today. Don’t go there. There’s a whole bunch of guys in those battles. They got the first opportunity with the big club, how’s that?"
That’s a politicians response, eh?
However, it’s hard not to read into things when looking at the lineup for this evening.
Lineup
Here’s the lineup for tonight, notice the fourth line left winger, interesting that’s he’s in there.
Not really, just shedding some immense sarcasm on that whole front.
Zach Hyman – Auston Matthews – William Nylander
James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Mitchell Marner
Patrick Marleau – Nazem Kadri – Leo Komarov
Matt Martin – Miro Aaltonen – Connor Brown
Morgan Rielly – Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev
Calle Rosen – Connor Carrick
Frederik Andersen
Kasimir Kaskisuo
That looks like a regular season lineup, does it not?
Then again, this will just be a chance for Babcock and company to see how the new group plays together.
Chances are, if Aaltonen and Rosen perform well tonight, the whole idea of them being favorites will be more solidified.
I’d still bet on some juggling for the three remaining games, but this could be very close to the regular season lineup.
It’s also interesting to see Kaskisuo in there and not Curtis McElhinney, maybe that’s something to follow as well.
Puck drops at 7:30 PM, live from the Ricoh Coliseum.