Maple Leafs Must Stick With New Top-6 Line Combinations
When the Toronto Maple Leafs used their top-5 picks to draft and Mitch Marner and then used their first major to land hometown boy John Tavares, it became apparent what kind of identity upper management planned to shape their team around. Just look at the 2015-16 Pittsburgh Penguins, whose top pairing for the majority of the playoffs was Olli Maatta and Ron Hainsey. Although the Maple Leafs’ team defense is light years ahead of where it once was, they are not a team that will win games by shutting down their opponents with pure grit. The Maple Leafs initially switched their forward lines up during the game against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 5, a game that resulted in a win. Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitchell Marner and Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)...
Read Full Article.Want the trending hockey news in your inbox daily?.
Just add your email, and we'll start sending you the most important hockey news of the day.
