Maple Leafs Finally Make the Changes Fans Have Been Waiting For on the Power Play
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had horrendous power play numbers to begin the season, but have finally made the changes that the fan base has been waiting for.
At the time of this article, the Maple Leafs have gone 0/8 on the power play to begin the season, which is flat out absurd and unacceptable for a top unit that boasts the likes of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly.
When the Maple Leafs brought in Marc Savard this summer to join Craig Berube's coaching staff, the move was made with the idea that Savard might be able to implement some changes that would make each of the team's 2 units more effective on the man advantage. So far, that hasn't been the case and it has led to some significant changes in the middle of the Leafs' 3rd game of the season.
After Chris Tanev drew a penalty to close out the second period, the Leafs entered the 3rd period of their clash with the Peguins on the power play. However, instead of the typical top unit coming out onto the ice, it was Knies and Oliver Ekman-Larsson who took to the ice with Matthews, Marner and Nylander on PP1, with Morgan Rielly dropping down to the 2nd unit. It's worth noting that, while the Leafs didn't score on the first attempt with the new top unit, Mitch Marner did score just seconds after the Pens' penalty expired.
Fans have been begging the coaching staff to balance the power play units since last season, with most thinking that it would be a more worthwhile endeavor to tinker with the Core 4 on separate units. Is this a step towards doing just that? Well, we'll very much have to wait and see. John Tavares is currently out of the lineup with an unspecified illness, meaning that we can't know for sure whether or not the changes are permanent or temporary.
In a perfect world, the Leafs would have Matthews and Marner running one unit while Nylander and Tavares ran the other. With a number of viable shooting threats and net-front guys at their disposal, they could very well boast two solid PP units if they did things this way. Loading up on the top unit may have worked in the past, but if the goal is to find more consistency, maybe some more permanent changes are the key to accomplishing that.
The Leafs do not play again until Wednesday, when they welcome the Los Angeles Kings to Scotiabank Arena. This means that the coaching staff will have a few days to work with the team at practice to see if they can iron out some kinks. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if we see some changes to the power play units between now and Wednesday.
