The Toronto Maple Leafs switched things up at practice today, as William Nylander is now on the third line.
William Nylander has been incredibly consistent this season with 38 points in 38 games, but moving him to the third line could pay dividends for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Last week, I wrote about why the Leafs should play Mitch Marner on the third line, and although many people thought it was lunacy, Sheldon Keefe seems to be following suit. I know it’s Nylander instead of Marner, but the same logic can be applied as to why the team is now better off with Nylander on the third line.
One of biggest arguments I’ve made surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs and many great teams is the theory around their best players carrying a line. For example, when the Pittsburgh Penguins were in their dynasty, Sidney Crosby carried a line that sometimes had Pascal Dupuis, Max Talbot, Bill Guerin and/or Chris Kunitz on it.
Kunitz was clearly a good player, but his play was elevated by playing with Sidney Crosby. Kunitz has more natural goal-scoring ability than Zach Hyman, but it’s the same thing that has happened with Hyman over the past few years.
He went from a good player to a great player who could score 30 goals in a season by playing alongside Auston Matthews and now Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.
Kunitz’s game was completely elevated by playing with Crosby, and the same can be said about any player that plays with Matthews.
It’s a Smart Move by the Toronto Maple Leafs
After seeing how Michael Bunting and Ondrej Kase worked beside Auston Matthews in Mitch Marner’s absence, it makes a ton of sense to keep that trio together. As I previously said, Matthews can carry two lower-tier players and make them better.
Keefe on the new lines: "Something I've been wanting to get a look at for quite some time." Getting Matthews, Marner, Nylander on separate lines a key, and how opposition might try to contend with it. "I like the ability to have lots of options." #Leafs
— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) January 24, 2022
He can turn Bunting into a 25-goal scorer and can help Kase return to the 20-goal scorer that he once was. Mitch Marner obviously helps create offense as he provides space and unbelievable vision to pass the puck to Matthews, but how much more will they score with him on that line, compared to Kase-Matthews-Bunting?
In my opinion, it’s better to spread out your line-up and to have three legitimate scoring threats on three lines, then it is to stack your top-two. The lines at practice looked like this today (via: Terry Koshan, Toronto Sun)
- Michael Bunting – Auston Matthews – Ondrej Kase
- Ilya Mikheyev – John Tavares – Mitch Marner
- Alex Kerfoot – David Kampf – William Nylander
- Pierre Engvall – Jason Spezza – Wayne Simmonds
After returning to the line-up, Mikheyev has been great, so elevating him to the second line is a welcomed promotion. Also, reuniting Tavares and Marner is a great plan, as those two had tremendous chemistry in Tavares’ first season when JT scored 47 goals.
Most importantly, the third line now has a ton of offense.
Kerfoot leads the Leafs with 20 even strength assists and has played a ton of hockey on Nylander’s line all season, so they should be able to continue to create offense. Sure, Kampf doesn’t have the same type of offensive abilities as Tavares or Marner, but Nylander and Kerfoot should still be able to create a lot of chances together.
It’s not going to be perfect every night, but as long as the Matthews line is still contributing at a solid clip, Toronto should keep the lines like this for a few games.
Being summoned to the third line shouldn’t be looked at as a demotion for Nylander but instead as an opportunity to shine against some of the opposition’s weaker players. The defense is always going to be stacked on the Matthews and Marner’s lines instead of the third line so Nylander should have a lot more scoring chances now.
Regardless, this is a smart move by the Toronto Maple Leafs and I think it’ll pay off.