Leafs appear to be making a major lineup change ahead of meeting with Florida on Tuesday
After a ton of speculation regarding what will happen with the Matthews/Marner line, who over the past 7 games have been largely unproductive, we finally have our answer.
The Leafs were back at practice in Toronto on Monday, but instead of Mitch Marner skating in his typical spot next to Auston Matthews, he found himself demoted to the 2nd line, skating with Tyler Bertuzzi and John Tavares, with the red hot William Nylander earning a promotion to the top line, skating with Matthews and rookie Matthew Knies.
Matthews and Marner have just 3 points apiece over the past 7 games, so Sheldon Keefe needed to do something to try to spark his top 2 guys. We know that both Matthews/Nylander and Tavares/Marner have some pre-existing chemistry, and we also know that when Keefe made the switch last season for a short time to get Marner and Matthews going on separate lines, it worked like a charm.
In other intriguing lineup news, Ryan Reaves found himself skating in bottom six white yet again, with Bobby McMann drawing 13th forward duties. It's unclear at this point whether the Leafs will go 11F/7D as they did against Pittsburgh, or if they'll go back to the standard 12F/6D structure, but that decision will have implications for Ryan Reaves, who sat in the press box on Saturday once again, despite scoring a goal on Friday in Chicago.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 27 | 423 ANSWERS Leafs appear to be making a major lineup change ahead of meeting with Florida on Tuesday How long will the Leafs keep Matthews and Marner separate? | ||
| Just a few games until they get going | 277 | 65.5 % |
| More than 10 games | 86 | 20.3 % |
| The rest of the season | 60 | 14.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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