The Toronto Maple Maple Leafs have a problem on the wing
The pre-season is well underway for the Toronto Maple Leafs, with many players hoping to make their mark on the team. The team has one small issue, though, and that could have a bigger impact throughout the season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs may be one of the NHL's deepest teams up front, with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares making up one of the league's most star-studded forward groups.
Supporting these four include Matthew Knies, Bobby McMann, Max Domi, and rookie Easton Cowan, among others. The Toronto Maple Leafs also have a very capable, though overpaid, bottom-six led by whichever of their stars ends up on the third line now that Nylander is playing centre.
Leafs GM Brad Treliving chose to keep the "core four" intact this offseason, making minor additions to the team's offense. Re-signing Max Domi and Nick Robertson, plus adding Max Pacioretty and Alex Nylander, an interesting question stands out for this Leafs team.
Are there too many players vying for spots on the wing? And if so, is it a problem?
The Toronto Maple Maple Leafs have a problem on the wing
The Leafs are likely going to start the season with a centre group of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, and David Kampf, centering lines 1-4 in that respective order.
This leaves Marner, Knies, Domi, Pacioretty, Robertson, McMann, Cowan, Calle Jarnkrok, and potentially even Nikita Grebenkin and Alexander Nylander fighting for spots in the top-nine.
A little competition between teammates for spots isn't a bad thing, and quite honestly might be for the best. But that's a whopping ten players fighting for six spots.
Mitch Marner, Matthes Knies, Max Domi, are absolute locks to play in the top six.
Nick Robertson has shown he can score at the NHL level and was clearly upset with the lack of opportunity given to him last season, so unless he's traded, he's going to play in the top nine.
McMann is also highly likely to be on the opening night roster. That's five of six spots, and Max Pacioretty looks good for the sixth.
That isn't good news for the Leafs prospects like Cowan and Grebenkin, and it also leaves Calle Jarnkrok out in the cold, and indicates that a trade could go down if an injury doesn't solve this riddle first.
manual
Either way, this competition for a top-six role could either help the Leafs tremendously and give them some of the best wing support in the entire NHL, or give them another Nick Robertson situation and leave multiple players unhappy. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out.