Leafs announce several significant lineup changes following 6-2 win in Philly
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a very banged up group right now, thanks to a trio of injuries suffered over the last week, including Mitch Marner (high-ankle sprain), Calle Jarnkrok (upper-body), and Ilya Lyubushkin (undisclosed) all currently sidelined.
This afternoon, as the Leafs return to practice in Toronto ahead of tomorrow's game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Scotiabank Arena, Sheldon Keefe was forced to put the lines in a bit of a blender with Marner, Jarnkrok and Lyubushkin all absent.
Among the changes featured at today's practice were:
-Pontus Holmberg skating on the top line with Auston Matthews and Tyler Bertuzzi
-Max Domi shifting back up to 2C, along with William Nylander and Bobby McMann
-John Tavares dropping down to 3C, playing with Matthew Knies and the recently recalled Nicholas Robertson, who had been skating as an extra this week
-Ryan Reaves coming out of the lineup in favour of Noah Gregor, who is slated to skate with newcomer Connor Dewar and David Kampf
Conor Timmins also skated alongside Morgan Rielly on the 2nd pair, but I almost wonder if Timmins (LTIR) is simply skating as a placeholder for Lyubushkin. If that's the case, perhaps the Leafs gave Lyubushkin a maintenance day after being banged around last night by the Flyers. If Timmins were to draw in before Simon Benoit, there may be hell to pay in Toronto, as such a move would really draw the ire of the fanbase.
Here's a full look at how the layout of the lines were for today's line rushes:
Bertuzzi - Matthews - Holmberg
McMann - Domi - Nylander
Knies - Tavares - Robertson
Dewar - Kampf - Gregor
Extra: Reaves
Brodie - McCabe
Rielly - Timmins
Edmundson - Liljegren
Extras: Giordano, Benoit
All 3 of Ilya Samsonov, Joseph Woll and Martin Jones were on the ice for today's practice as well, so it's really anyone's guess as to who will get the start. Samsonov has won 13 of his last 15 starts and Woll perhaps makes the most sense to start against the Canes as he'll need some starts to try to get going here. We'll have to await confirmation on who will get the nod, though.
| POLL | ||
MARS 15 | 606 ANSWERS Leafs announce several significant lineup changes following 6-2 win in Philly Who would you most like see the Leafs play in round 1? | ||
| Boston Bruins | 376 | 62 % |
| Florida Panthers | 68 | 11.2 % |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 162 | 26.7 % |
| New York Rangers | 0 | 0 % |
| List of polls | ||
