Maple Leafs Appear to Have Established Their Defensive Pairings for Opening Night

The Toronto Maple Leafs shuffled their training camp groups and appear to have identified their preferred defensive pairings for opening night, health permitting.

After a second pre-season loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night, the Leafs returned to practice on Wednesday, where they shuffled their three groups of players remaining at camp.

Group A has the majority of their NHL roster. If we are to read the tea leaves here, the Leafs and head coach Craig Berube appear to be leaning towards some more permanent defensive pairings.

The moment he signed in Toronto, Chris Tanev was earmarked by fans and media as the most likely player to skate alongside Morgan Rielly on the top pair and that is exactly where he was slotted in again at Wednesday's practice.

While many want the Leafs to keep the pairing of Jake McCabe and Simon Benoit together, it appears that Berube is willing to give another free agent signing in Oliver Ekman-Larsson the first crack at playing with McCabe, while Benoit remains lined up with Timothy Liljegren on the third pair.

Marshall Rifai, who has impressed in camp so far, was paired with Conor Timmins as the fourth pairing, but many believe that Rifai's emergence in training camp and the pending health status of Jani Hakanpaa could signify the end of Timmins' tenure with the Maple Leafs.

The Leafs are set to host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday and it would not be surprising to see at least two of those pairings in action then. Barring any injuries or a miracle recovery from Hakanpaa, those pairings look to be how the Leafs will open the season October 12th against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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