Leafs' projected forward lines for Game 1 against Tampa, according to line rushes at Sunday's practice
At the conclusion of the 2022-23 regular season, there were a lot of questions surrounding what the Leafs' roster might look like for Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Well, if the line rushes during Sunday's practice are an indicator, it would appear as though Sheldon Keefe has made his roster decisions.
As difficult as it must have been for Keefe, he actually has rookie Matthew Knies on the outside looking in, listed as the 13th forward. Knies skated away from the rest of the team on a separate pad of ice with fellow extra Wayne Simmonds. But hey - not many teams have a 13th forward like Matthew Knies available to them in the playoffs, so it really just speaks to the job that Kyle Dubas has done in bringing in as many bodies as possible to give Keefe an abundance of looks and options.
As far as how the actual lines shaped up, here's how the 4 forward lines looked during line rushes:
Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Tavares-O'Reilly-Nylander
Kerfoot-Acciari-Jarnkrok
AstonReese-Kampf-Lafferty
Extras: Knies, Simmonds
Keefe appears to be opting to start the playoffs with Ryan O'Reilly centering the 2nd line as opposed to playing on the 3rd line. There was a lot of speculation that Keefe might opt to roll with Matthews, Tavares and O'Reilly as a 3-headed beast down the middle of the ice, but we do know that O'Reilly has worked well with that 2nd line when he's played there as well.
The line of Bunting-Matthews-Marner played extremely well together last season, but with the officials seemingly targeting Bunting for much of the year, it's going to be interesting to see whether or not he'll stay up on that line, logging big minutes for the Leafs.
With Keefe, we know that he likes to tinker and make in-game adjustments, so it's very possible that these lines may change during the game, but for now, it looks like the roster is set for Tuesday's postseason home opener.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 16 | 642 ANSWERS Leafs' projected forward lines for Game 1 against Tampa, according to line rushes at Sunday's practice Is Sheldon Keefe making the right call in rolling with Ryan O'Reilly as the team's 2nd line center? | ||
| Yes | 490 | 76.3 % |
| No | 152 | 23.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
