Maple Leafs Experimenting With Roster Ahead of Meeting with the Utah Hockey Club
With Matthew Knies expected to miss out on Sunday's game against Utah, the Toronto Maple Leafs might be forced into experimenting with the dreaded 11/7 formation.
Schedule-wise, the Maple Leafs had a relatively quiet week with just one game on Wednesday and another to follow on Sunday. In fact, they only have 2 games scheduled next week as well -- Wednesday and Saturday.
The extra rest couldn't have come at a better time with a lot of players in Toronto dealing with a myriad of ailments and injuries.
Auston Matthews has been sidelined for 3 weeks, Max Domi and David Kampf were recently placed on injured reserve, joining Max Pacioretty and Auston Matthews on the sidelines, and Matthew Knies was forced out of Wednesday's game with an upper-body injury.
If that wasn't enough roster damage, you can even throw in Ryan Reaves and his his 5-game suspension.
Friday's practice gave us some insight on what the lineup should look like for Sunday's contest against Utah. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was absent due to an illness, so the Leafs dipped back into the Marlies pool and called up Philippe Myers from the AHL.
The biggest takeaway from practice seems to be that the Leafs could be preparing to go with the 11/7 formation, unless Domi can recover in time. Craig Berube hasn't ruled him out just yet and he is hopeful for Ekman-Larsson, but he did officially rule out Knies.
Playing 7 defensemen is usually not done unless it is absolutely necessary and with all the injuries up front, the Leafs certainly don't have many options, considering they already have Alex Steeves, Fraser Minten, and Nikita Grebenkin stapled in. Of course, the recent recall and signing of Alex Nylander could mean that the Leafs intend to use a more conventional 12F/6D setup. As of this moment, nothing is confirmed.
This could also be the opportunity that Myers needs to flex his muscle a little bit. Beyond an excellent rookie season with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2019-20, his play hasn't exactly wow'ed anyone.
