The Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Rest Their Star Players

The Toronto Maple Leafs have just six games remaining in the regular season. While they’d prefer to pick up wins in each of those contests, there needs to be a greater focus over that span.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are already locked into a first round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The only thing left to determine is who will have home ice advantage.

While Toronto is currently leading, the Lightning do have a chance to surpass them in the standings, and become the home team in the series.

Toronto Maple Leafs Should Rest Their Stars

While it may be an unpopular idea with the Leafs current second-round playoff drought, they need to forget about winning regular season games and turn their attention to the post season now.

Instead of worrying about winning, the Toronto Maple Leafs need to focus on keeping their best players healthy and ready for Game 1. They need to take a page out of the NBA playbook and  keep their stars fresh. It worked well in 2019 with Kawhi Leonard and the Championship winning Toronto Raptors.

On Sunday night when playing the Detroit Red Wings, the Leafs looked a little like that Raptors squad by sitting Mitch Marner. Defensemen Mark Giordano and Jake McCabe also figured out of the lineup to rest. It’s the right thing to do considering how grueling the games will be once the Leafs and Lightning lock horns.

There’s no better example for the need to rest the players than looking at what happened to Matt Murray who was hurt on Sunday. Lucas Raymond collided with the back of Murray’s leg, forcing the goaltender to exit the contest.

Losing Murray would be a massive blow to the Leafs. Sheldon Keefe needs to consider what he saw happen to Murray and ensure he doesn’t lose any of the team’s stars.

This may not be the preferred choice for Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Both men are sitting at 37 goals and certainly hoping to get to 40 on the season. As much as individual accolades would be great, keeping the pair healthy must take precedent.

The same can be said for the Leafs big trade deadline acquisition, Ryan O’Reilly. He has been working his way back into the lineup. O’Reilly hasn’t played since breaking his finger a month ago. There should be no urgency in getting the former captain back into a game.

The same isn’t true for the other Maple Leafs trying to find some NHL ice time before the season ends, Noel Acciari and Victor Mete. Their insertion into the lineup would benefit others who could rest. It would also give Acciari and Mete some reps just in case an injury occurs in the playoffs.

The stakes will be high when the playoffs begin. Hopefully, the Maple Leafs will have everyone available to get their revenge against the Lightning.