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Toronto Maple Leafs: Projecting the 2020-2021 Forward Lines

By Rossy Pasternak

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 07: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his third period goal at 16:54 with Morgan Rielly #44, William Nylander #88, Auston Matthews #34, Zach Hyman #11 amd Mitchell Marner #16 against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 07, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 07: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his third period goal at 16:54 with Morgan Rielly #44, William Nylander #88, Auston Matthews #34, Zach Hyman #11 amd Mitchell Marner #16 against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 07, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 15: Toronto Maple Leafs center John Tavares  (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Line Two/1B

Let’s get this out of the way: John Tavares wasn’t the John Tavares of 2018-2019, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t good – great, even. The Leafs captain  spent much of the season playing through a hand injury, but he still managed to produce at a nearly point-per-game pace (60 points in 63 games), and consistently made the right play with the puck.

The largest drop in production came in the form of Tavares’ goal scoring, which decreased from a career-high of 47 in 2018-2019 to just 26 last season, mostly due to playing 19 less games. Tavares shot an absurdly high 16.4% in that career year and a regression was to be expected – and was not helped by his hand injury early in the season. (Stats via Hockey Reference)

Injury and contract negotiations also took Hyman and Marner away from his wing to begin last season, and Tavares never really got to build chemistry with his line, with so many injuries plaguing the Leafs up and down their lineup and a coaching change mid-season.

William Nylander is slotted to play the right side next to Tavares (though he may switch to left wing, which he did for part of the playoffs) after quietly having a very productive season alongside the Captain, scoring 31 goals and putting up some of the best on-ice stats in the NHL (Hockey Reference).

Ilya Mikhayev is the front-runner to play on the left side of those two although the competition for spots along side the stars will be strong. He showed considerable chemistry with Tavares and Marner to begin last season before being sidelined with a freak injury, and possesses a combination of size, speed, and a heavy shot that can play anywhere in the lineup.

This year, Tavares should get the chance to have some form of a training camp and pre-season to build up a rapport with his wingers and have a better start to the season. If this line struggles to get going to begin the season, Marner could be swapped with Nylander to add some more playmaking to this line and get more balance throughout the lineup.

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