When the Toronto Maple Leafs get back to full-strength, the team should load up the John Tavares line by splitting up Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews.
Prior to his injury, the Matthews-Marner duo was unstoppable. It didn’t matter who the third player was on their line, both players were able to score at will. With that being said, the last few games without Matthews have shown us why the Leafs paid Marner $10.903M per season.
Marner has the ability to carry a line and make the players around him better. Although I’d defended him countless times this season, Tavares wasn’t living up to expectations prior to the Matthews injury. Now that he’s back playing with Marner, he seems to have that same jump he had a few years ago.
When Tavares joined the Leafs, he was welcomed with Marner on his side every night and it helped him produce a career-high 47 goals. Tavares may not have scored in the two games playing beside his former line-mate, but he did have two assists in the two games.
Despite not actually scoring, his enthusiasm is back. It feels like there’s a new energy when Tavares is paired with Marner and it’s working.
Leafs Should Load Up On Tavares Line
Before you start commenting that breaking up Matthews and Marner is the dumbest idea in the world, hear me out.
I’m not suggesting that Matthews and Marner should never play together again, but it feels like the connection between Tavares and Marner is the only way to get us back to seeing the old JT.
Matthews is the best pure goal scorer in the NHL. Playing with Marner has definitely helped him get to the almost goal per-game pace that he’s set this season, but we have to remember that he can still produce without playing beside him.
Matthews scored 40 goals in his rookie campaign, paired up with Connor Brown and Zach Hyman most nights. Even when he was paired with William Nylander, all of these players were raw rookies and were not at the level that they are today. Matthews is a well-rounded player and arguably a top-three player in the league now.
Matthews can carry a line by himself, so this is what a healthy Leafs lineup should look like when he’s back.
- Zach Hyman – Auston Matthews – Joe Thornton
- William Nylander – John Tavares – Mitch Marner
People continue to speak about loading up the top line to make this team unstoppable, but in the last few games the Leafs have gone with a Marner-Matthews-Tavares trio, they’ve been shutout.
Instead, putting an elite passer with two 30-goal scorers could lead to huge production.
All Matthews needs to be successful is someone to retrieve the puck and someone to pass it to him. Jumbo is still a world-class passer and there’s nobody you’d trust more in the corners than Hyman. Even by breaking up Marner and Matthews, there’s a chance that Matthews’s goal-scoring rampage would continue.
In terms of balance, the opponent would have a hard time defending both of these lines. If they decide to bring their top defensive unit against Matthews, it leaves their second best defenders to attempt to cover Nylander, Tavares and Marner.
Vice versa, if the opponent puts their top-guns against the Nylander, Tavares and Marner line, then all of a sudden Matthews doesn’t have to face the toughest defensive unit.
With a huge lead in the North Division and a guarantee that this team is going to the playoffs, Sheldon Keefe should use this opportunity to create more balance. In a limited seven-game series you have zero time for experimenting, so this should be the time to get creative.