Sheldon Keefe promotes young Leaf following excellent performances in Games 2, 3 and 4
Michael Bunting made his return to practice with the Leafs today after serving his 3-game suspension for his illegal check to the head of Erik Cernak in Game 1. However, he did not take his usual spot next to Auston Matthews on the top line. Instead, Bunting was wearing a bottom-six white jersey along with Alexander Kerfoot, Ryan O'Reilly, Noel Acciari, Zach Aston-Reese, David Kampf, Sam Lafferty and Wayne Simmonds.
Keefe is keeping his lineup changes close to his vest by not having anyone wear a grey "scratched" jersey. However, one notable change to the lineup is that Matthew Knies was practicing wearing a blue "top-six" jersey and skating alongside Mitch Marner and John Tavares. It seems Knies' play in the previous three games has earned him a shot in the top-six, but it could just also be a ploy by Keefe to not show too much. From what was shown at practice, Bunting and Simmonds were the "extras" in line rushes which could mean that Keefe is not going to put Bunting back in the lineup just yet. Why change what is working right?
On the back end, the defensive pairs remained the same, but the Leafs were joined by Victor Mete, who practiced for the first time with the team since early in the season. He skated on the fifth pairing with Conor Timmins while Erik Gustafsson and Timothy Liljegren were also an extra pair during rushes.
Unsurprisingly, Ilya Samsonov departed practice after a pair of drills as he normally does when he is scheduled to start. That left Joseph Woll and Erik Kallgren to finish out practice.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 26 | 147 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe promotes young Leaf following excellent performances in Games 2, 3 and 4 Does Knies deserve to be in the Leafs' top 6 after only 6 games as a pro? | ||
| Yes, his play speaks for itself | 130 | 88.4 % |
| No, not just yet | 17 | 11.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
