Maple Leafs Final Cuts: Editor in Leaf Roundtable

James Tanner

The Toronto Maple Leafs roster is amazing.  Probably the deepest overall in the NHL.  I don’t really think they can screw it up, since there is just so much talent.   That said, I don’t think what I’d do is anything close to the reality of what will actually happen.

But the question wasn’t to guess what the lineup would look like (that’s super boring) but rather to say what you’d do.

So first thing I’d do is put Nylander at centre, with Marner taking his place on the first line with Matthews and Hyman.  I’d then have Nylander centre JVR and Kapanen.   My third line would be the current Marleau-Kadri-Komarov unit, and on the fourth line I’d have Aaltonen centring Connor Brown and Josh Lievo.

Tyler Bozak would be offered around the league for draft picks, and if no one was buying, I’d waive him and  happily take the cap savings.

For defense, my first pairing is Jake Gardiner and Connor Carrick.  I think they were the Leafs best pairing last year by a mile (the stats back this up) and see no reason to mess with near perfection.

The second pairing is Morgain Rielly with Timothy Liljegren.  I saw him play one game and I was impressed.  These two will outskate anyone they come up against, and they’ll keep the puck moving north.  I would just choose their minutes carefully and get them good matchups.

Finally, my bottom pairing would be Nikita Zaitsev and Martin Marincin.  Last year they were dynamite when paired together and put up a 56% possession rating.  It was for a short time, but bare minimum, I want to see more of them together.

For my seventh pairing, just give me either Rosen or Borgman, either one, I still can’t tell them apart.