Leafs fans were polled on whether or not Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner should play together; so far, the results aren't close
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner have been attached at the hip since Sheldon Keefe took over as head coach in Toronto, even though John Tavares' best season came with Marner as his right winger. That left Tavares handcuffed to William Nylander and while Nylander, Matthews and Marner all enjoyed career years last season, many fans have wondered if Tavares would be better off playing with Marner.
Keefe has not been afraid to interchange Nylander and Marner at times when the Leafs aren't firing on all cylinders the way they should be and on Sunday it worked out very well when he did. However, on Tuesday morning at the game-day skate, Matthews and Marner were back together, which prompted Luke Fox to ask the question on Twitter of who Marner should play with - and the results were surprising.
At the time of this article, only 30.6% believe Marner should play with Matthews, while an overwhelming 61.1% believe Marner should be playing with Tavares. Given their success together in Tavares' first season in Toronto, it's understandable as to why fans believe the Leafs would be better with Marner and Tavares together. Personally, I am fine with either combination, but Keefe has to be more willing to interchange them earlier in games if things aren't going as planned.
The one place where I do believe Marner and Nylander or for that matter Nick Robertson should switch positions is on the power play so that the Leafs have a shooter on either half wall. That would free up Matthews more often and if he isn't open, there is at least a secondary shooting option.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 9 | 195 ANSWERS Leafs fans were polled on whether or not Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner should play together; so far, the results aren't close Who should Mitch Marner be playing with? | ||
| Matthews | 91 | 46.7 % |
| Tavares | 87 | 44.6 % |
| Other | 17 | 8.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
