The Lineup the Toronto Maple Leafs Can Now Roll Out
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a new coach.
And with that new coach, we are hopeful about eventually seeing some changes to the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup.
Especially with the defensive pairings.
As all Toronto Maple Leafs fans known by now, Mike Babcock has gotten the boot, and former Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe has been named the 31st coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have one of the deepest rosters in the league with some of the best players in the world, in the likes of Matthews, Nylander, Marner, and Tavares.
One of the most frustrating things about Mike Babcock was seeing the same d-pairings being rolled out constantly with diminishing returns. Enough was enough and Babcock got the boot.
Now that GM Kyle Dubas has his guy in Sheldon Keefe, a more puck possession, defenseman led rushing game will be noticed as it has in the first few games that Keefe has been in charge.
Toronto Maple Leafs New Lineups
Babcock is a stubborn coach and he is not going to change his philosophy. That being said the leafs have not been constructed the “Babcock Way” so guys like Jason Spezza, Justin Holl, and most importantly Tyson Barrie weren’t being used properly or in Spezza’s case, very sparingly.
Before Babcock being fired the lines that he was rolling out were:
Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander
Mikheyev-Tavares-Hyman
Moore-Kerfoot-Kapanen
Timashov-Shore-Gauthier
Rielly-Ceci
Muzzin-Holl
Dermott-Barrie
Babcock likes certain players that can play his style of hockey, and Jason Spezza was not in his vision of being able to play his style. In fact, the only player that is a gritty Babcock player is Hyman who might now be expendable now that Keefe is here and likes to play a different style.
The lines that Keefe is rolling out are slightly different, but we haven’t seen many big changes yet.
Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander
Mikheyev-Tavares-Hyman
Petan-Spezza-Kapanen
Engvall-Gauthier-Timashov
Rielly-Ceci
Muzzin-Holl
Dermott-Barrie
When he was hired, he warned that this would take a while because he doesn’t know the players and will have to rely on his (Babcock’s) assistants. Although Keefe coaching a lot of these guys with the Marlies will certainly make the transition for the players and coach much easier.
Once Marner and Kerfoot return there will have to be some re-shuffling of the lines and some tough decisions will have to be made because call ups like Engvall are playing well.
As far as the d-pairings go, although Barrie is on a line with Dermott he has now been placed on the first PP unit and usually is on for the offensive-zone faceoffs, and the results are showing already.
Next. How Tyson Barrie Is So Effective Under Keefe. dark
It will be interesting to see how Keefe can manage this roster and get the best out of them using a different style of coaching as opposed to Babcock’s.