No. 2: Too Much Change at the Deadline
Everyone loved the moves that Toronto made at the NHL Trade Deadline, but it could have been too many moves when the team was playing well.
Toronto had one of the best records in the NHL but they decided to change almost 50 percent of their line-up and that could come back to haunt them.
Over the past few weeks, Sheldon Keefe has continued to change up his lines, which is something that should have been fixed months ago.
When you’re almost in April, you don’t have to be figuring things out still. Instead, you’d want to have everything figured out and fine-tuning your line-up.
Auston Matthews has been playing with brand-new linemates, while the Leafs defense hasn’t been secured, all while we have no idea who’s going to start Game 1.
Also, with Ryan O’Reilly being injured, that missed time could really hurt the line-up as he hasn’t had time to gel with his teammates.
He was a huge addition, but we’ve only seen eight games of him to really know what he’s going to bring. As a result, a lot of his learning is going to have to happen in the playoffs, which isn’t great.
Change can be good, but in this case, it could come back to bite them.