The Toronto Maple Leafs should try Bobby McMann on the top line

The Toronto Maple Leafs roster is short a third-line centre, but the new NHL season is almost up on us, and new coach Craig Berube has a clean slate upon which to try out new forward combinations.

While Keefe found a lot of success late last year breaking up the duo, the new Toronto Maple Leafs coach may want the dynamic duo of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner to be paired up again.

Amazingly, the Leafs struck gold even after the departure of Zach Hyman with Michael Bunting, who somehow put up even better numbers , but the Leafs duo has been unable to find another complimentary piece among options like Matthew Knies, Max Domi or Tyler Bertuzzi.

This led to Domi being paired with Matthews, and they had great success. However, I think the Leafs best option is to have their two best players playing togethger, and therefore I think Bobby McMann should get a shot at a top line role.

The Toronto Maple Leafs should try Bobby McMann on the top line

In a little over four years time, McMann has turned himself from a nobody to a potential key piece in the Leafs puzzle. After posting back-to-back 20+ goal seasons with the Toronto Marlies, McMann finally got his shot with the Leafs during the 2023-24 season.

With the knack of being hard on the puck, as well as having the tenacity and strength to win puck battles and deliver solid checking, McMann quickly set himself apart from the rest on the Leafs roster. Starting on the Leafs bottom-six near the beginning of the season, he eventually worked his way up to starring on the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander by the latter parts of the year. If he didn’t end up suffering an MCL sprain towards the end of the regular season, he would have been a huge factor for the Leafs in the playoffs when the game got tighter and tougher.

On the year, McMann finished with 15 goals and 9 assists for 24 points in 56 games. That output will likely increase drastically if given a run with Matthews and Marner. (All stats from hockeydb.com)

Although the Leafs are overwhelmingly likely to pair Domi/Matthews and have Marner on a different line, I really think the McMann-Matthews-Marner line has potential, mostly due to the fact that McMann could very much play a similar role to Bunting and Hyman and find great success with the Leafs two superstars.