Toronto Maple Leafs: Time to Try Marner on Top Line

The Toronto Maple Leafs have lost three in a row.

In the big picture, that’s not big deal.  The Toronto Maple Leafs will lose games and it’s not like they’re playing terribly.  While the Leafs weren’t the best team, really, in any of their recent losses, they each could have been won with just a bounce here or there (or a non-call on a faceoff, but I digress).

If you’re losing games and you can legitimately see how you could easily have won them, then there is no reason to overreact.  I want to make it clear that this article is not about the recent three game skid.  It’s about how to ice the best team going forward. I would probably be writing this if the team was on a three game winning streak.

It’s time to put Mitch Marner on the top line.

Think about it: in almost any other situation he could have conceivably drafted into, Mitch Marner would have been a franchise player.  Auston Matthews is a generational-type superstar, and probably already the best player in Toronto Maple Leafs history.  But had he not fallen into the Leafs lap, Mitch Marner would be the best player the team has acquired since Mats Sundin. He’d be the team’s #1 centre, or at least winger, and this would be his team.

There is no shame in that.  Peter Forsberg, Eugeni Malkin, Sergei Federov and Jonathan Toews all know how that goes, and they’re four of the best players of all time.

Marner on the 1st Line

But let’s be realistic: there isn’t another team in the NHL that would have Mitch Marner on the third line (or fourth).  That’s just how it is.  It’s great the Leafs can essentially skate three first-line quality lines, but at the same time, they’ve got to find out how good Marner actually is, and to do that, they need to give him way more minutes, with way better players.

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Even with three talented lines – and there is nothing wrong with playing on a line with JVR – there just isn’t enough ice time to fully utilize your best players.  Balance is good, but also, so is utilizing fully your most talented guys.

Of course the Nylander/Matthews combo is great.  But at the same time, any two players that good are going to look good together, especially when the rest of the lineup can kill other teams if they put too much focus on that one.

But as great as that line is, the Leafs are wasting a legitimate #1 centre by playing him on the wing.  William Nylander put up better numbers as a two-way player than Bozak ever has while playing centre for 20 odd games in his rookie-trial two seasons ago when the Leafs finished 30th.

I don’t care about faceoffs or any of that other nonsense, Bozak has been a passenger, he has no defensive game, his line has been awful and he’s a pending UFA.  Time to move on.  Even if Nylander weren’t guaranteed to be superior as a centre to Bozak, the Leafs are a better team with Nylander at centre if only because it creates a spot on the wing.

Marner goes up to play with Matthews – and hopefully they can each start approaching 20 minutes per game – and Brown comes up off the fourth line.  Boom! Everyone is happy.

Potentially the Best Forwards in the NHL (in post-salary cap history).

Marner will excel with Matthews.  They’ve barely played together in the NHL and it’s a shame because they are insanely talented players.   As good as the Nylander/Matthews combo is, there is no reason to think a Matthews/Marner combo wouldn’t be even better.  As good as Nylander is, Mitch Marner has more raw talent and should be the better player eventually.  There is reason to think that if he had gotten the plumb assignment, he already would be.

I get the argument for team depth and chemistry.  But it doesn’t compare to fact that the Leafs have a player capable of winning a scoring title on their third line who isn’t getting nearly enough minutes.

Hyman- Matthews – Marner

JVR – Nylander – Brown

That is one of, if not the best potential top sixes in the NHL.  Following it up with Komarov-Kadri- Marleau is insane.  And, if the Leafs throw in Leivo- Aaltonen-Kapanen to round things off, they’d have more than double the skill of basically any team in the league.

Next: Time to Cut Polak

No matter what they do, they definitely have to play Marner more, and play him higher in the lineup.