The Toronto Maple Leafs had a practice on Monday and had William Nylander lining up on the wing with Max Domi at centre.
That's right, the Toronto Maple Leafs experiment to move Nylander to centre lasted less than a week.
This is really too bad, because the Leafs are otherwise extremely weak at centre, and if Nylander wasn't going to lineup there for the entire season, no matter what, then they failed even more than I thought they did this summer.
That is because after John Tavares - who may or may not still be an above-average second line centre - the Leafs depth chart falls over a cliff and into an abyss of garbagio.
Impression Master Craig Berube does a great Sheldon Keefe
Seeing Berube pull the plug on this after two games is pathetic. Though, to his everlasting credit, Berube did give it 2 and a half minutes longer than Keefe, who tried Nylander at centre for just one game.
I guess when Nylander was injured and had to leave the game after playing less than three minutes, while trying to backcheck when Nick Robertson tried to give him an ill-advised boost, it proved he was a bad centre.
Personally, considering that Max Domi is a replacement player when lining up at centre who, even if you make him the most sheltered player in the NHL like Keefe did, will still likely lose his minutes, I would have given it a longer look that just 15 minutes, which is Nylander's total 5v5 ice time in the two games he's played so far.
Berube's answer when asked about this was, frankly, embarrassing to all involved.
Berube on flipping Nylander in and out of centre at practice today:
— David Alter (@dalter) September 30, 2024
"It's a work in progress is the way I put it. It's not easy to just switch it over and play center. It's a lot more on your plate. I think he's done a pretty good job. Again, throughout the season it'd be nice to…
Seriously? It would be nice to have a right handed centre who can take faceoffs? In a perfect world, sure! But I say just start by trying to have three NHL centres on your roster first, then go from there. Baby steps!
I think it would be nice to have a capable second-line centre on the roster, and at least three above average centres in total.
The fact is, Nylander did take some reps at centre during practice, according to David Alter, so the experiment might continue, but based on the fact that they are using Domi to start practice, I think it's fair to say the experiment is all but over.
Domi is a horrendous centre. Mark my words: The Leafs will not make the playoffs with Domi playing the majority of his time at centre ice.
The reason that the Leafs really should stick with Nylander at centre is simple: They don't have a better option, and if they weren't going to use Nylander as a centre, they likely would have acquired a 3rd centre in the off-season.
Domi has shown he can score at an elite rate when playing the wing with Auston Matthews, but that anywhere else in the lineup he is below replacement level.
This should be a no-brainer. But so should having Timothy Liljegren in the top-four, but Berube, again seeming exactly like Sheldon Keefe, has him playing below Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, which is ridiculous and due only to name-brand recognition.
New coach, old coach, same difference.