Maple Leafs Throw Roster Into Blender: Jaw-Dropping New Combos Unveiled at Practice

The Maple Leafs did not fare well during their first road game of the season on Saturday night, falling 6-3 to the Detroit Red Wings after taking a 2-0 lead to begin the game.

Leafs head coach Craig Berube was quite frustrated with his group following the loss, and that frustration was evident in his very critical post-game comments.

As it turns out, Berube is not going to give last night's group a chance to redeem themselves. At practice on Sunday, the veteran bench boss tossed his lines in a blender and debuted some new lineup combinations at practice on Sunday.

The Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan was present to take in the practice along with several other media members in Toronto. Koshan shared the combos taking part in line rushes. There were a few very big surprises.

Obviously, the big one is Easton Cowan vaulting ahead of the rest of the pack and going from the press box to the top line, skating with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies.

With Cowan emerging as a threat to steal the top-line RW job in Toronto, Matias Maccelli was shifted down to line 2, playing the left wing with William Nylander and John Tavares.

Bobby McMann, who had previously been tethered to Nylander and Tavares, found himself playing on the wing on line 3 with Max Domi and Nicholas Robertson, while Dakota Joshua, previously playing on the 3rd line, dropped down with Nicolas Roy and Calle Jarnkrok.

After playing last night, Anthony Stolarz did not work with the main group. Instead, Cayden Primeau, who was claimed off of waivers last week, took regular reps, indicating that he may be in line to make his Leafs debut on Monday as well.

Obviously, until tomorrow's lineup is announced, all we can do is speculate that these will be the lines for the rematch against Detroit. However, if this is the lineup they roll out, it does appear to be a lot more balanced than the previous iteration.