5 best soccer prospects on the Toronto Maple Leafs

The FIFA Women's World Cup is currently happening. It got us thinking. What members of the Toronto Maple Leafs would be best at soccer?

Would Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly help a soccer edition of the Leafs?
Would Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly help a soccer edition of the Leafs? | Tom Szczerbowski/GettyImages
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The Soccer Roster Needs a Defender

The Leafs soccer team needs some grit and nastiness on its backend. Jake McCabe is the only remaining defenseman on the Leafs that has some snarl. He would happily launch himself at any opposition strikers to defend his goal.

New general manager Brad Treliving wants a net-front presence on his team. McCabe has it. A possible detriment might be McCabe's penchant for flattening oncoming forwards that have their heads down. Expect the soccer version of McCabe to pile up some yellow or red cards.

Leafs captain John Tavares can score in tight areas. He has a knack for parking it in front of the net and scoring by any means necessary. He won't have his stick for tip-ins, but he is likely to use a foot, head, or any other body part to re-direct a ball into the net.

A bonus of having Tavares on the soccer edition of the Leafs is creating "own-goals". His series-clinching goal against the Lightning brought a lot of joy to Toronto last spring.

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