One important detail about the Leafs roster to keep your eye on

3-2-1, action. Game 7 of the Leafs' season starts at 9:00 p.m. EST Tuesday night in Salt Lake City, and questions about how this roster will evolve continue to pile up. Through six games this season, a few key observations stand out: McKenna continues to impress; Matthews and Nylander continue to gel; Easton Cowan is scratching and clawing his way into a permanent top-six role. And with Tavares' absence on Saturday against Colorado, Leafs fans finally got to catch a glimpse of what life looks like with McKenna on the top power-play unit — and boy, did it live up to the hype.

What's noteworthy about all the speculation regarding the lineup is that every iteration of how the lines are assembled is on the table. Jim Hiller likes to shuffle more than a dealer in Las Vegas. It doesn't feel like a strategy; it feels more like a necessary adaptation to find sparks of momentum to build on. That, or Hiller really wants to keep his cards close to his chest.

It begs the question: How important is it to play alongside the same guys, game in and game out? In 2021, former Leafs head coach Paul Maurice stressed the importance of finding Pierre-Luc Dubois proper linemates to ensure his skill set shines and works in tandem with the guys he plays with. The two-time Stanley Cup-winning head coach went on to say, "That's what the hope is — that we can develop all parts of his game, and a big part of that is who you play with. Who you play with affects how the game is played, and it brings out different nuances in each player's game."

Perhaps the constant line juggling is the method of madness Hiller needs at this point in time, given the incredible overhaul in this Leafs lineup. Maybe it's a tool that lights a fire under the bench, with guys jumping out of their seats to get out there and figure it out with whoever happens to be on the ice at any given moment. Some might argue that that's why they're professionals in the first place. Others, like Maurice, contend that as a team sport, it's important to nurture the intangibles every individual player brings to the table to build a viable and efficient unit.

We've already seen some great highs and concerning lows early in this Leafs season. Most would probably concede that they're relatively hopeful about the Leafs' chances of making a real playoff push, but that's not without cause for concern. To Hiller and his staff's credit, they've built a system that lets players exercise their creativity offensively, scoring enough to give their goaltending a fighting chance every game. Hiller's next step is to keep nourishing the necessary chemistry needed for a deep cup run. A lineup that is a tossed salad of skill sets is simply making do with what you have; the real test of a fine chef is how you incorporate the right ingredients in the right dose.

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