Toronto Maple Leafs: Game Day Headlines vs Washington

Hot off the heels of a lengthy road trip, the Toronto Maple Leafs will finally return home tonight to face the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

Despite not residing within the same division, there are nevertheless some notable stakes on the line this evening as the Washington Capitals head into town. Stakes which could impact where the Leafs stand come April.

As of today, the Leafs have now dropped down to third in the Atlantic – despite having gone 7-2-2 in their last 11 games – and sit 4 points behind the Boston Bruins with 2 games in hand. They are 5th in the entire NHL, with the league’s third-best goal differential, and can’t even secure a top spot in their own division.

Jeez, Louise.

A win tonight, while not essential, would certainly go a long way to secure home-ice advantage throughout the postseason. And if the Leafs do end up running into the Bruins once again, that advantage is going to matter.

Playoff implications aside, here are a few headlines heading into tonight’s tilt.

Defence Shuffling

It’s not the change they needed. In fact, it’s not even the change that fans asked for.

Yes, we now live in a world where Jake Muzzin is a third-pairing defenceman. Mike Babcock strikes again.

The Ron Hainsey – Morgan Rielly tandem has simply never worked. Not now, not ever. Hainsey’s 39-year-old body could barely hold up over the course of a seven-game playoff series last season (let alone the four that the Leafs might play in this year) and yet Babcock seems entirely content to try his luck once again with another full season’s worth of mileage added to his ageing defender.

I guess some habits really do die hard.

Another point of contention with these new-look pairings is the reunion between Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev. Much like the Hainsey – Rielly partnership, Gardiner and Zaitsev have simply never worked playing with each other either, something that has become abundantly obvious to pretty much everyone aside from the man standing behind the bench.

Now, the Leafs will send out these proven-to-be-ineffective pairings in the hopes of shutting down the likes of Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

That’s fun. This is fun.

Nylander at Centre

William Nylander has arguably been the Leafs’ best player over the past 12 games. Don’t believe me? Well, here’s your proof.

Turns out, he’s now getting the promotion he’s so long deserved. With Nazem Kadri out of the lineup tonight with a concussion, Nylander will shift to the middle where he’ll centre the third line in between Andreas Johnsson and Connor Brown.

Nylander’s stints at centre have been few and far between under Babcock. The main reasoning behind this has been the emergence of his phenomenal chemistry with Auston Matthews, which had led the two of them to be joined at the hip for more or less the past two years, so this will be an interesting experiment, to say the least.

Nylander has seemingly got all the tools needed to be an effective pivot. He’s relatively big; standing at 6 feet and 191 pounds. He’s a phenomenal possession driver; never dipping below a 51.4% CF/60 at 5v5. Not to mention, he’s a gifted playmaker to boot; with 39 and 41 assists respectively in his two full NHL seasons.

Flanked by a fellow possession hog in Johnsson and a steady two-way winger in Brown, Nylander may thrive in his new, albeit brief, role.

Starters in Net

According to DailyFaceoff, Frederik Andersen is once again slated to roam the Leafs’ crease tonight, marking what will be his 42nd start of the season.

The Leafs have just 4 back-to-backs remaining on their schedule. Which means, going under the assumption that Garret Sparks will start only in the second half of those, Andersen is on pace to reach the 60-start plateau once again and finish with 61.

That’s not exactly ideal for a team whose sights are set on a lengthy postseason run. How Babcock handles Andersen’s workload to prevent any type of burnout moving forward will assuredly be something to keep note of.

Puck drops tonight at 7:00 PM.

All stats courtesy of hockeyreference.com