Toronto Maple Leafs: Best Line Combinations for the Playoffs

Pairing Three:  Calle Rosen and Travis Dermott

Look, I know that Babcock won’t trust a rookie defenseman in the playoffs over Ron Hainsey.  I also know that there is almost no chance that Hainsey sits.  Doesn’t matter.  This isn’t about what will happen, it’s about what should happen.

Dermott and Rosen will easily be above 50% and provide the Toronto Maple Leafs with solid third pairing minutes.

That’s it.  That’s the lineup the Leafs should use. I’ll try later to do a special teams article, but this is how I think the Leafs, if healthy, should set their lines.

Frankly, I think the Leafs are somehow underrated due to the fact that we talk about them constantly and are so used to their lineup by now.  But realistically, they have top five players at every position, they have the deepest centre depth, they have a realistic Hart Finalist in Tavares, a possible Vezina goalie and a should-be Norris winner.

They have the best 5v5 team in hockey, and if they get decent goaltending and don’t get completely robbed by a hot goalie on their opponent’s team, the only thing that can beat them is special teams.

Sure, they haven’t had the best power play this year, but the fact is, power-play have a ton of variance and past performance doesn’t really predict future performance any better than just looking at the talent level and realizing that it’s insane.