Craig Berube Urged to Deploy Rare Defensive Strategy Amid Leafs' Injury Bug
Craig Berube could utilize a rare hockey strategy for the Leafs that while has its benefits, is something of a shift that comes with its own set of risks.
No, it's not trap hockey. But it's a rarely utilized strategy that can bring a huge amount of success, or leave your team handicapped from their full potential.
So what could this mythical hockey game plan be?
Just add a 7th defenseman on the ice.
That's right, Craig Berube is thinking of dressing 7 defensemen while his heavily injured forward group recovers from their assortment of injuries.
It's not the craziest idea in the world and you can utilize a variety of different options in order to either spark offense or add more defensive versatility.
For example, Toronto could do something crazy and add Oliver Ekman-Larsson to their forward corps and let Jani Hakanpaa take his spot alongside the newly motivated Simon Benoit.
The lines could potentially look something like this:
McMann -- Tavares -- Marner
Knies* -- Holmberg -- Nylander
Robertson -- Minten -- Grebenkin
Ekman-Larsson -- Lorentz -- Steeves
* - Matthew Knies' status is unknown as of this writing
Adding OEL to the bottom line to add defense and a playmaker alongside Alex Steeves could potentially unlock his offense. Benoit can play just fine beside Connor Timmins and Hakanpaa can play again with Morgan Rielly.
Ekman-Larsson is typically more offensive and with his extra edge that has come out this season, he could make for a pretty solid hybrid two-way player. Good enough defensively and great offensively, who knows what could happen.
There are times when it doesn't work, and it can come back to bite the team. Craig Berube is aware of this as well:
The typical defenseman is aware of how offense works but they sometimes lack the smaller skills that aren't focused on in favor of being a better defender.
If Berube wanted to go a more traditional route, he could double up on a winger, perhaps William Nylander, and let Benoit and Hakanpaa on the ice when situations call for their roles.
It's found success before and can work again but only if Craig Berube gives it an honest shot, or he's desperate enough.
It'll be hard to see Berube going this route although with how much they have been injured, desperate times call for desperate measures.
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