The Toronto Maple Leafs started their preseason with Easton Cowan and Nick Robertson paired together and that's exactly how they should start their regular season.
Over the course of Auston Matthews' career, although he's been the team's best player, he's also been paired with some great talent around him. Whether it was Zach Hyman, Mitch Marner, Matthew Knies or William Nylander, Matthews has always had a few awesome wingers to play with. As of right now, the internet has put Matias Maccelli into the Mitch Marner spot, keeping Knies on his left-side, but what if the team changed that philosophy this year?
Nick Robertson has been an intriguing player since he arrived in the NHL, but he's yet to find a groove. Despite barely getting any ice-time last year, Robertson still managed to score 15 goals and if his first preseason game was any indication of how this season could go, Robertson may be ready for a breakout campaign.
The 24-year-old played every situation, had a ton of jump and scored a goal, all while playing first-line minutes. He did everything you wanted and looked very good beside Cowan and David Kampf. I know this is a preseason game, so it's not the same as a regular season match-up, but Robertson proved his worth.
I can't stress this enough, but Robertson is not going to be effective if he's summoned to the third-line again. He needs to play top-line minutes and can suceed alongside Matthews. Not only that, but imagine how much fun it would be to see Matthews alongside not only Robertson but Cowan as well?
Cowan-Matthews-Robertson would be a very fun first line
Making the leap to the NHL is a big adjustment, so playing top-line minutes immediately may be a tall task for Cowan, but he's shown more than enough at the junior level for me to believe that he can make an impact in the pro's. Cowan can help retrive pucks, while Robertson and Matthews are lethal goal-scorers, who he should be able to feed nightly.
I can understand why it makes sense to put Knies back with Matthews, but Knies on the second line alongside William Nylander and John Tavares makes their second line just as good as their first. Matthews, at this point of his career, should be able to carry anybody on his wing, while a second line of Knies-Nylander-Tavares may be the best second-line in hockey.
Bobby McMann, Matias Maccelli and Max Domi are not be top-six players, so the addition of Cowan and Robertson in those spots, really helps spread out the team's bottom-six. Not only that, but it allows players such as Calle Jarnkrok and David Kampf to be expendable, which helps save the organization more cap-space to acquire better talent at the NHL Trade Deadline.
I really hope that the Leafs experiment in training camp and give Robertson and Cowan the biggest opportunity possible because both of them are talented enough to make an impact, they just need a chance.