Toronto Maple Leafs: Lack of Experimenting Is Concerning

The Toronto Maple Leafs open the pre-season tonight against the Ottawa Senators.

Of course, on one hand, this is the return to of hockey.  John Tavares will be in the lineup and it will be our first chance to see him in a Toronto Maple Leafs uniform for real. (Sort of, the game doesn’t count!).

On the other hand, it’s the pre-season.  Maybe some people can get up for exhibition games, but I can’t.

Whether the Leafs win or lose tonight, doesn’t really matter.  But what is interesting about a pre-season game is who plays and who doesn’t, as well as what line combos are used.

This is what is concerning: the overall lack of experimentation seen in camp so far.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Here’s the lineup for tonight’s game, courtesy of Paul Hendrick’s Twitter Account.

What I like here is Leivo with Kadri and Brown.  I think that would be a really great line to have.  Especially if the Leafs use their fourth line a bit more than they have and roll out a Kapanen-Lindberg- Johnsson line.  That would dominate most of the NHL’s other fourth lines.

What I don’t like is the lack of experimentation of such a group.

Specifically, Ron Hainsey and Morgan Rielly.

Last year the Leafs were one of the very worst defensive teams in the NHL.  They were bottom five in shots against and bottom ten in scoring chances against.  They were not in the top half of the league in possession stats.

So over the summer, they go out and signal to the world that they are going to compete this year by signing John Tavares.  The math lines up, because the team only has one year to go where Marner and Matthews are on their cheap entry level deals, so the team is clearly recognizing the rarity of what’s happening and attempting to win this year.

So then…….

They trot back out the exact same top four defenseman?  They go the entire summer without a single upgrade?  It’s not a good look.  If Hainsey and Rielly and Gadiner and Zaitsev were the top four defenseman on one of the worst defensive teams, and easily the worst one to make the playoffs, how can they expect them to be any better this year?

They can’t.

So why not try something new?  I get that a trade might not have been available, but at least when the games don’t matter, why not try out a pairing that might be better than what was used last year?

I mean, you never know if you don’t try.  And a pre-season game against the Senators is the best time to try.

Rielly and Gardiner have a great history as a pairing.  Connor Carrick would really compliment Rielly’s game with his defensive soundness.  Hell, even Holl  might bet better than Hainsey.

When Rielly got away from Hainsey last year, his stats shot up.  He happened, also, to be one of the best defenseman in the NHL last year.

It begs the question: what would he look like if he didn’t have to drag a 37 year old Ron Hainsey around the ice with him all night?

Seems like tonight could be a place to find out.