Maple Leafs' new defensive pairings raise questions during preseason

Toronto Maple Leafs preseason is underway and the team will use this time to try and fine-tune their lineup -- and some other things, too. But now, we have a somewhat major change on the blue line after Saturday's pair of preseason games have come and gone.

At team practice on Monday morning, the Leafs stuck to their original groups. Group 1 is essentially the actual NHL roster and will get most of the looks, while Group 2 is basically the collection of players who are destined to be sent down to the AHL within the next week.

As Group 1 took the ice, we got a look at the lines and while the forwards remained the same from earlier practices at training camp, we have a new-look blue line.

Leafs' new blue line sparks some questions

Previously, Morgan Rielly was on a pairing with Emil Andrae and we thought that it could have easily been his role to start the season. To keep him sheltered so that his offensive toolset can be used to the Leafs' advantage in prime opportunities. But now, he has switched spots with Oliver Ekman-Larsson and has leapfrogged his way to a top-pairing role alongside Darren Raddysh.

It will be incredibly interesting if that pair sticks together since the concern about Rielly heading into this season is whether or not he can handle the big minutes anymore, and if both of them are leaning towards being better offensively than defensively, then it feels like a slightly unbalanced pairing.

In another move, the newcomer Andrae has been demoted to the extra pair and Troy Stecher is now the Leafs' projected No. 6 defenseman, according to this lineup. A pairing between Ekman-Larsson and Stecher can work as two players who can move the puck but might also need some sheltering.

Given the top and the third pair, the plan could very well be that Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev takes as much defensive resposibility as possible and just soaks up all opposing threats during the 22 minutes they might be out there.

This is a similar strategy to the forward group, since head coach Jim Hiller has created a bottom-six forward group that can take the defensive load off the top six forwards, so that they can be thinking more about offense than they did last season. It could be exactly the same on the blue line, as players like Raddysh, Rielly, and Ekman-Larsson are given more freedom to focus on offense rather than covering their own behind.

We'll see if these pairings somewhat stick when the Leafs play their next batch of preseason games on Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators.

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