Craig Berube Shuffles Maple Leafs Line-up as Key Forward Returns From Injury
The Maple Leafs are getting their injured players back and it's led Craig Berube to make some big lineup changes as they see Bobby McMann back to practice.
With the amount of injuries that have occurred over the last month for the Maple Leafs, they've done well to hold down the fort as the team sits tied with Florida for first in the Atlantic Division.
They've slowly been getting reinforcements back with the returns of Max Pacioretty, Max Domi, and Jake McCabe over the last week, and now the return of Bobby McMann at practice has led to a lot of lineup shuffling.
Per David Alter on X, the Maple Leafs had a much different look lining up for them at practice now with McMann back in the fold.
What Big Changes Were Made For The Maple Leafs
McMann lines up alongside rookie Fraser Minten and a healthy Max Domi as he tries to not only bring some scoring to the bottom six, but to Toronto's anemic left-wing side.
There's also the removal of Ryan Reaves in favor of Pontus Holmberg and Nick Robertson gets to sit again, a potential sign his future with Toronto is coming to an end.
Toronto lost McMann during their 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers and it was a big blow to the Leafs' offense.
A sparkplug who was starting to gather his footing, McMann's injury derailed all momentum and Toronto looked a bit out of sorts without him.
This season, the young Leafs power forward has six goals and one assist in 21 games and was on pace to smash his 15 goals from last season. Also, McMann is surprisingly one of the fastest players in the league so far this year.
Toronto went 5-2-0 with https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/m/mcmanbo02/gamelog/2025 out of the lineup and while they were successful, their on ice product wasn't great.
Two losses to Pittsburgh and Washington, and a frankly lucky win against New Jersey, Toronto needs the two-way energy of McMann in a bad way.
If McMann is healthy enough to return, his earliest shot will be on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings, something his head coach noted.
Toronto hopes he is, as they continue to try and assert their dominance atop the Atlantic Division.
