The Toronto Maple Leafs have played some outstanding hockey in the wake of the injury to Auston Matthews that’s kept him out of the lineup since October 28. Outside of a stinker on home ice to the Ottawa Senators, which seems to be an annually-scheduled event at this point, the Maple Leafs have won every game without their goal-scoring superstar. Forget just missing Matthews, the Maple Leafs have lost a number of lineup regulars including Max Domi, Matthew Knies, Max Pacioretty, and David Kampf. Thus, head coach Craig Berube has been tasked with experimenting with different line combinations following a surge of Toronto Marlies being recalled.
Throughout all of these injuries, there’s been one consistent line, and that’s been Bobby McMann, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner. The line has combined for 24 points in seven games since Matthews went down with his injury, with 14 at even strength. Although most of this production has come from Tavares and Marner, who make up 21 of the 24 points, McMann has been excellent on the forecheck and creating space for his linemates, which has allowed them to ramp up their offence.
Matthews is about as close as you can get to returning to the lineup, joining the team for practice on Tuesday following a trip to Germany to proactively heal the injury that’s been plaguing him for the past three weeks. While many expected him to reunite on the top line with Marner, Berube pivoted in the other direction, with the makeshift Marner/Tavares line staying intact and Matthews skating alongside William Nylander and Pontus Holmberg instead. When asked about his reluctance to pair the two, the bench boss expanded on his decision, citing strong play on both sides of the puck over the past month.
And just like that, the fans rejoiced.
It sounds foolish to suggest that one of the biggest issues the Maple Leafs have in this day and age is the prospect of pairing your 60-goal capable centre with one of the best playmakers in the league, and that’s because it is. If you go back to the 2019-20 season, when the Maple Leafs fired Mike Babcock and hired Sheldon Keefe, one of the biggest gripes with the former was that he was attached to playing Matthews with Nylander and Marner with Tavares. Similarly, when Keefe put Matthews and Marner together, the fans rejoiced.
The underlying message here is that the Maple Leafs will always be better off when they adapt to the way teams are playing them as opposed to leaning on one pairing like a crutch. Everybody knows that Matthews and Marner, when they’re playing together and they’re on, are among the best duos in the NHL. You don’t just lose that capability or chemistry as you enter your prime. But, as we’ve seen in the playoffs just about every year in the past half-decade, you can render the Maple Leafs useless by shutting them down and forcing them to adapt. Keeping your line combos fresh and utilizing the fact that you have two elite centres and two elite wingers will make things harder on the opponent because any combination of centre/winger in that top six will be hard to contain.
Berube is making the correct call here by opting not to fix what isn’t broken and trying to leave the lines that have worked so well in the past month as untouched as possible. Just as important, though, is the willingness to adapt should Matthews/Nylander and Tavares/Marner run dry and the Maple Leafs run into another slump. It will be interesting to see how he manages his star players once everyone is healthy.
