Toronto Maple Leafs Can Choose to Be Deep @ Centre
Are the Toronto Maple Leafs deep at centre?
The Toronto Maple Leafs are either in need of two centres this offseaon (which would mean they’re very thin at the position) or they have perhaps the deepest group of centres in the NHL.
It depends on what they want to do with William Nylander.
If William Nylander is a moved to centre – as everyone has assumed that he eventually would be – then the Leafs can line up Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri and William Nylander down the middle and have one of the deepest (probably the very deepest) groups of three centres in the NHL.
Nylander would compensate for the loss of Bozak and free up some space on the wings. Assuming the loss of James van Riemsdyk and Leo Komarov, the Leafs have Hyman, Nylander, Marleau, Marner, Brown, Kapanen and Johnson all of which are too good to limit their ice time on the fourth line.
That means that there is already an extra winger, and if you convert Nylander you clear up the log jam.
Another reason to make the switch is that you can then funnel the money that Bozak frees up by leaving into paying for Nylander, Marner and Matthews, and not have to worry about paying five million for another centre. They also wouldn’t need to burn any assets to add a much needed centre.
Nylander
Nylander is a special player with elite-level talent. He’s fast, he drives possession and he’s put up back-to-back 60 point seasons.
Though Matthews is a great linemate, playing with him means you have to face the toughest competition. Nylander should be able to capitalize on the fact that other teams will spend their time trying to match-up against Matthews and Marner’s lines, and this should give the Leafs an edge they can exploit.
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If the Leafs don’t switch him to centre, they’re going to have to replace half the centres on their roster. It’s no big deal to find a 4C, but when option A is having the league’s potentially best group of centres, and option B is replacing half the centres on your team, it seems like an easy decision.
So to recap: Switching Nylander to centre accomplishes the following:
– Turns the position of centre into a strength instead of a weakness.
– Don’t need to pay assets to acquire a top-nine centre.
– Clear up the log jam of wingers.
– Have the deepest 1-2-3 punch in the NHL.
– Saves money.
– Increases Nylander’s value to the team (Centres > Wingers).
– Only need to replace one centre instead of two.
– If you’re committing long-term to three franchise forwards, it makes more sense to invest in two centres instead of two wingers.
As you can see, William Nylander needs to be switched to centre. There’s a lot of reasons to make this move, and very few drawbacks to the switch. While Nylander wasn’t necessarily great as a centre when Matthews was injured, it’s hard to ask a guy to switch in the middle of a season. Also, with Matthews out, he was being asked to step into a much more prominent role, whereas if he’s deployed as a centre when the Leafs have a healthy lineup, he can be sheltered to maximize his strengths.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs can be have excellent centre-ice depth, they just have to choose to do so.