The Toronto Maple Leafs have an incredible roster and a legitamate chance to win the Stanley Cup this season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have three Franchise Players, they have two still-great slightly-declined superstars (Tavares and Reilly) as well as an excellent set of veteren blue-liners, and a very helpful collection of young forwards with upside on a combined $4 million.
And to top it off, the Leafs also happen to have arguably a top-three goalie in the NHL. Yes, it's true that Anthony Stolarz has not played a lot of NHL games, but in the last two seasons there just aren't any other goalies - except for Connor Hellebuyck - who are better.
So things could go really, really good for them but one person has to be better. That person? The coach. (stats from naturalstattrick.com).
The 1 person who needs to be better for the Toronto Maple Leafs to have success
The one person who can most change the Leafs fortunes and who can ensure that they go far in the playoffs is head coach Craig Berube.
Berube has the Leafs playing a dump-and-chase style that is far removed from the possession-based game Sheldon Keefe had them playing. The Berube style is hopefully going to limit dangerous chances while being condusive to "playoff hockey."
I personlly think that this safe-style game is the opposite of what a team with 3x franchise players on it should be doing, but whatever - that ship has sailed. This article isn't about Berube's style - for all I know it's the style the team will use to win. I think Keefe got a pretty long leash and while I would have stuck with him, Berube's style has won a Cup before and I'm open to it.
What I'm not open to is Berube's bad line-ups. It's not the style or strategies the team employs that need to be fixed - it's the specific player combinations.
Let's look at Saturday's Nashville game for an example of what I mean.
The Leafs 3rd line was Robertson-Domi-Holmberg. This is a joke. You cannot use this line in the playoffs, so why is it still happening this late in the season? It's obvious to everyone, except Berube, that Domi is not a centre.
The 4th line was Lorentz-Kampf-Laughton. This too is stupid. Kampf only has value as a defensive forward, but what good is he doing defending exclusively against other team's 4th lines? If Kampf was paired with Jarnkrok and Marner, the Leafs would have a shut-down line that could play against other team's top lines, which would free up the Knies-Matthews-Domi line and the McMann-Tavares-Nylander lines to have easier matchups and focus more on offense.
The Leafs coach needs to be better. I've said what my ideal playoff lineup is, and I don't expect Berube to do whatever I say, I'm just trying to point out options. The fact is, the lineup the Leafs dressed against Nashville will lose in four or five games in the first round of the playoffs.
The Leafs need Berube to put together better lines. You cannot shelter your worst players and hardmatch your best players against other team's top lines while you're at home, which is what the Leafs did earlier in the week at home vs Colorado. There is no way to win doing that, it's silly.