Maple Leafs Confirm Sweeping Changes to the Blueline, Reveal Unexpected Healthy Scratch
The Toronto Maple Leafs have confirmed some drastic changes to their blueline ahead of Wednesday's tilt with the Dallas Stars, revealing one unexpected scratch.
After a full day off on Monday, following a busy stretch of 3 games in 4 nights for the Maple Leafs, the team was back at practice on Tueaday, in preparation for a tough outing on Wednesday against the Dallas Stars, in Dallas.
During Sunday's game against the Buffalo Sabres, the Leafs started very rough, dropping down to an early 2-0 deficit, which forced head coach Craig Berube to make some changes on the fly, shaking up nearly his entire D corps.
Thankfully, the changes made by Berube paid off in spades, helping the Leafs to claw their way back into the game and not only tie it up, but take a 4-3 lead that they would never relinquish, en route to a 5-3 victory.
On Tuesday, the Leafs opted to carry over some of the changes they made to their D pairings, unveiling some new pairs for Wednesday's clash with the Stars. The pairs slotted in as follows:
Rielly-Myers
McCabe-Tanev
OEL-Timmins
Benoit-Dewar (practicing as a defenseman)
Unfortunately for Simon Benoit, he'll take a seat on Wednesday, conceding his spot to the veteran Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who will slide down to skate next to Conor Timmins on the team's 3rd pair.
Meanwhile, depth defenseman Philippe Myers has drawn an excellent opportunity to play next to Morgan Rielly, which will allow the Leafs to preserve a very effective shutdown pairing that consists of Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev.
The Leafs have done an excellent job of keeping their defensive rotation flowing to allow everyone to remain active. Of course, once injured veteran blueliner Jani Hakanpaa returns, that rotation will become even more watered down, and may make it more of a challenge to keep everyone involved.
Honestly, having too many NHL-caliber defensemen is a pretty good problem to have.
