The Toronto Maple Leafs failed to address some major issues this past off-season.
I thought, heading into the summer, that their number-one priority would be acquiring one of the top goalies in the NHL, but the Toronto Maple Leafs did not acquiesce, instead sticking with Joseph Woll and bringing in 31 year-old back-up Anthony Stolarz.
I thought another thing that they would surely do is acquire another centre to go with Tavares and Matthews, because it is obvious to anyone with eyes or internet access that Max Domi is not a very good centre.
I constantly mentioned Mitch Marner as the best option, but found it weird when most analysists just seemed to assume the 3C role would go to Domi. But yesterday, at least someone finally brought up the obvious when Jonas Seigel went on TSN 1050 and talked about Nylander taking over the role.
The Toronto Maple Leafs need one of Marner or Nylander to play centre
Personally, I don't care if it's Nylander or Marner, but one of those guys does need to play centre because otherwise the Leafs don't have a very good option on their roster to do so. Besides that, Max Domi is a bad centre and needs to play left-wing, the team's weakest position, with Auston Matthews on the top line.
Moving one of the superstars to centre from the wing stretches the Leafs lineup and makes sure that they have one of their superstars on each of their first three lines. It also gives them long-term clarity at the position because Mattews is here for four more years, Nylander is here for seven and Marner, eventually, is going to sign for eight.
Also, given his age, Tavares at 2C might not be so great anymore. At 3C he's probably still going to be way above average, maybe still a star. Stretching the lineup makes the Leafs better by always having a star on the ice, but it also allows their star players to improve other players on their roster.
For example, Nick Robertson on the third line with Pontus Holmberg isn't so hot. But Robertson and Tavares seems pretty impressive for your third best line. The Leafs lineup is just infinitely better with one of Marner or Nylander at centre ice.
But, by far the most important factor is putting Domi with Matthews, where he goes from overrated replacement player who shouldn't even have been re-signed to a guy who could potentially score at a franchise-player level.
The Leafs didn't pick up a centre this summer which would have been an inane move if they didn't already think they had one. Therefore, expect either Nylander or Marner to play that position this year.