Leafs shuffling lines at practice on Tuesday, with one very strange player placement
When the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that superstar center Auston Matthews had tested positive for COVID-19 on his rapid test on Monday, there was some hope that his followup PCR test would come back negative and that his original positive test would be labelled a false positive.
However, on Tuesday, Matthews was absent from practice once again, with the Leafs providing no update ahead of the session. It is expected that an announcement will be made on that front shortly.
In the meantime, the Leafs are busy in preparation for the struggling and hungry Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday and the show must go on, meaning that the Leafs were forced to do some line juggling at practice on Tuesday.
Per Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun, captain John Tavares slides up into Matthews' spot on the Leafs' top line, surprising absolutely no one. One detail that has caught the eyes of the observers at practice is that Ondrej Kase was not on the ice either. Who was skating in his spot alongside David Kampf and Pierre Engvall? Alex Biega.
Now, the thought process here is that Biega is simply acting as Kase's proxy at today's practice. Whether Kase is on a maintenance day or whether there is something else going on remains to be seen.
Something that is interesting to note here, however, is that Biega, during his time with the Vancouver Canucks, was once cast in a forward role in an attempt to expose him as a forward in the Seattle expansion draft. More on that below.
If Matthews does miss any length of time, it appears as though Alexander Kerfoot will shift back to center to work as the team's 2nd line pivot, with Mikheyev being elevated to Kerfoot's usual spot on the LW of that line.
Kerfoot and linemate William Nylander have shown great chemistry together, dating back to the Leafs' first round series against the Habs in the 2021 playoffs. Hopefully they can continue to roll with Tavares moving up the lineup.
Another update has Jake Muzzin re-entering the lineup on Wednesday, skating with his usual partner Justin Holl on the right side. Timothy Liljegren skated as the team's 7th defenseman.
As for the top power play unit, Michael Bunting is currently slotted in where Matthews usually plays. Hopefully we'll have an update here shortly on Matthews and Kase.
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