Maple Leafs Final Cuts: Editor in Leaf Roundtable

Josh Tessler

As some of you have seen in my last two posts on Editor in Leaf, I would prefer Timothy Liljegren, Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman to be sent down to the Toronto Marlies to develop.

Liljegren, Rosen and Borgman are used to playing European hockey and haven’t played much in North America aside from pre-season hockey. The Swedes will likely spend next season with Sheldon Keefe and his coaching staff. For the last two defensive spots, I’d go with Connor Carrick and Travis Dermott.

While Connor Carrick didn’t have the best pre-season, he does have NHL experience and would give the third defensive pairing a solid shot on the blue-line. Some folks might prefer Marincin over Dermott on the third pairing. But, Dermott has definitely proved during the pre-season that he is ready to play on the big stage at the Air Canada Centre. In the pre-season, Dermott looked like a solid mobile two-way defenseman and might be solid line-mate with Carrick.

Moving to the fourth offensive line. It will likely be Tyler Bozak, Kasperi Kapanen and Matt Martin. Tyler Bozak on the fourth line? Yep! The Leafs have a tremendous amount of depth at centre this season. Kadri will play on the third, Nylander on the second and Matthews on the first. Personally, I don’t think Bozak will last long on the fourth line.

He likely will be traded before the deadline as the Toronto Maple Leafs look to add a strong defensive defenseman. I believe that Kapanen will be on the fourth line and should be playing with the Leafs all season. He had a strong season last year with the Marlies and should be a decent fit with Bozak. Of course, you need Matt Martin. This fourth line would not be complete with your grinder. Matt Martin will also be extremely useful on the penalty kill, so I assume Lou will not assign Martin to the Marlies.