The Toronto Maple Leafs were not able to improve their team much over the summer.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the NHL trade market and free-agency market were incredibly overpriced and almost any team that was buying overpaid drastically. The best you can say about the Toronto Maple Leafs summer is that they didn’t enter into this madness.
The Canucks, Flyers, Rangers, Oilers, and Blackhawks all made incomprehensible short-term moves that will destroy their long range plans, and which put acquiring name-brand players ahead of of making smart moves.
The Leafs avoided this situation and made some moves which may pay off, but which were not exactly very exciting. They lost Hyman, so that is going to probably make them worse, barring a star turn from Nick Robertson or a surprise hit on a value forward like Nick Ritchie. Losing Freddie Andersen won’t hurt them because last year he only hurt the team. Same goes with Zack Bogosian whose loss will be mourned by the members of Leafs Nation who ridiculously hate on William Nylander, but no one else.
The good thing, however, is that the Leafs were already a great team so they didn’t really need to do much. So without further ado, here are the Lines I think they should run. Note that this is different from the post I made where I guessed what their lines would be.
Toronto Maple Leafs Lines
If I was the coach I would have a first line of William Nylander- Auston Matthews- Mitch Marner. We’ve seen what a super-line can do in Boston, and I think it’s time the Leafs did one of their own. This would be the best line in hockey by approximately an infinite amount.
It would also allow the Leafs to balance all their lines in terms of offense or defense, because there is no need for a “shutdown” line if you have a line that can dominate other team’s first lines.
The second line should feature Nick Robertson – John Tavares – Ondrej Kase. Toronto Maple Leafs fans are going to fall in love with Kase. The only reason he was available dirt-cheap is also the only reason he isn’t already a star player: Injuries. If he’s healthy enough to play, he gives the Leafs the scoring depth to move Nylander to the top unit.
This also gives Nick Robertson a chance to break out in a situation where he won’t face top competition, but will have the benefit of top linemates.
On the third line, I like Michael Bunting – Alex Kerfoot – Nick Ritchie. It’s a good grinding line with decent defense that can score. It would be a fan-favorite line and bring some energy.
On the fourth line, I would want to play Engvall-Kampf-Brooks,because I think it’d be something like the NHL’s best fourth line, but the Leafs have to give ice time to Mikheyv, Spezza, Simmonds, and whoever else.
Ultimately, NHL coaches tend to play it safe, so I doubt the Toronto Maple Leafs will be instituting a lineup that looks anything like this.