Some clarity on how the Leafs plan to deploy Blackwell and Giordano
Mark Giordano and Colin Blackwell took part in their first practice with the Leafs ahead of Wednesday's Next Gen game against the Devils, where both are expected to make their Leafs' debuts.
Despite previous chemistry with T.J. Brodie, dating back to their time together in Calgary, Giordano will instead suit up next to Timothy Liljegren on the team's third pair. Keefe has talked about sticking with the Rielly and Lyubushkin pairing and with a thin left side beyond Rielly, Brodie, and Giordano currently, Keefe is keeping his pairs balanced at least for the time being. When one of Jake Muzzin or Rasmus Sandin returns from injury perhaps we see a reunion of Giordano and Brodie.
Meanwhile, Colin Blackwell is skating on the Leafs 4th line with Jason Spezza and Wayne Simmonds. Blackwell has the versatility to play wing and center. The Leafs' 3rd line is currently playing exceptionally well and Sheldon Keefe has absolutely no interest in breaking up his shutdown line, and for good reason. The 2nd line has struggled of late, so perhaps Blackwell eventually gets a look there. But for now, he's on the 4th line.
Both Giordano and Blackwell will see immediate special teams work as well. Both former Kraken players were taking reps on the Leafs' second power play unit at practice on Tuesday. Both are also believed to get a look on the PK.
My gut tells me that we're going to see the lineup look something like this once Muzzin and Sandin return from injury:
Bunting - Matthews - Marner
Blackwell - Tavares - Nylander
Engvall - Kampf - Mikheyev
Spezza - Kerfoot - Simmonds
Rielly - Lyubushkin
Giordano - Brodie
Muzzin - Liljegren/Holl/Sandin
The biggest reason why I believe Blackwell will wind up on the team's second line LW is that he and Tavares are both excellent in winning puck battles and Nylander is great at stripping pucks. Both Blackwell and Nylander are fast and are very real breakaway threats.
Blackwell, in a lot of ways, is like Bunting - though maybe with less of a scoring touch. He played in the top six in New York with superstar winger Artemi Panarin, so we know that he can play with top-flight talent. Blackwell, despite his height (5'9) will mix it up on the forecheck, cause chaos in front of the net, dig in the corners and will turn up the volume after he whistle if needed. He's not your run of the mill small player. Height-wise, he may be small, but he's not one of these soft 5'9, 170-pound water bugs. He's a solid 5'9, and almost 200 pounds.
So, we know where they're going to start, now it's just a matter of where they end up. I like their chances of following suit with Ilya Lyubushkin and overshooting expectations.
