Keefe reveals why he decided to have Bunting and Jarnkrok flanking Matthews on the top line and load up on line 2
Typically, when a team loads up on one line, it's either their top line or their top power play unit. For the Leafs, however, Sheldon Keefe has chosen to load up on his 2nd line, slotting William Nylander and Mitch Marner on either side of captain John Tavares, leaving Michael Bunting and Calle Jarnkrok to play with Auston Matthews on the team's top line.
Matthews and Bunting have a lot of chemistry together, stemming back to last year when the pair, along with Mitch Marner, formed one of the hottest lines in hockey. This season, Matthews has also established some pretty solid chemistry with Jarnkrok, even going so far as to request that the coaches leave them together.
As far as Keefe's rationale for the way he has set up his top two lines, he spoke with the media this week and revealed that his motive for trying things this way is to see if he can be a strong play-driver for his own line. Obviously, we know that Bunting can score with him, we know that Jarnkrok can score with him, but as a trio, we can only wait and see how this all develops.
"He is going to have the puck a lot more. He is going to drive things a lot more himself. I thought he did a really good job of that [on Tuesday]. I think it's going to be on the wingers, they'll have to do a little more work to get him the puck and to earn pucks back and to stay involved and stay engaged... I believe Auston has the ability to do that... it is an easy switch to move things around there if we need to."-Keefe on placing Matthews with Bunting and Jarnkrok
Naturally, Keefe left the window open to be able to bump Marner or Nylander back up to that top line if need be to help get things going, but for the time being, he's encouraged by what he saw from the trio on Tuesday against Columbus and looks forward to seeing what they can do tonight against Boston.
Previously on MapleLeafsDaily
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 6 | 340 ANSWERS Keefe reveals why he decided to have Bunting and Jarnkrok flanking Matthews on the top line and load up on line 2 Are the Leafs doing the right thing by loading up on line 2 and allowing Bunting and Jarnkrok to flank Matthews on the top line? | ||
| Yes, it could work | 189 | 55.6 % |
| No, it's silly | 82 | 24.1 % |
| Should be Willy/Auston/Mitch | 69 | 20.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
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