Leafs Head Coach Craig Berube Confirms His New Lineup with Laughton and Carlo
With a couple of new faces in and a few faces out for the Maple Leafs, let's take a look at what the lines might look like for Saturday's game against Colorado.
As the trade deadline is behind us, all eyes are solely focused on the Toronto Maple Leafs' journey to be Atlantic Division Champions, and secure a bit of an easier spot in the playoffs. Adding some key pieces certainly helped, and it'll be interesting to see how things play out.
We won't need to wait long, as both Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton are scheduled to be in the lineup for the Maple Leafs for Saturday's game against Colorado.
So with that being said, what will the Maple Leafs roll out in terms of a lineup?
Starting Lines For Maple Leafs/Avalanche Game
Craig Berube has unveiled that Laughton will center Max Domi and Bobby McMann meanwhile Calle Jarnkrok will be scratched in favor of Laughton as Toronto will throw Nick Robertson into the lineup presumably with Steven Lorentz and David Kampf.
As the team heads into Colorado for a must-win game after losing two straight to San Jose and Vegas, there are certainly going to be a lot of new faces in the lineup.
Here's how Craig Berube will utilize his new assets:
Knies - Matthews - Marner
Holmberg - Tavares - Nylander
Domi - Laughton - McMann
Lorentz - Kampf - Robertson
---------------------
Rielly - Carlo
McCabe - Ekman Larsson
Myers - Benoit
Toronto gets music more balanced with their forward situation and gives Max Domi a chance to try and regain his form after the pressure of being a defensively sound center wasn't working out.
It's possible that Steven Lorentz or Max Domi could find themselves out at points, but with Domi sitting on a $5M deal, and Lorentz playing the hard nosed style of hockey with a lot of physicality; it's either too expensive or too risky to take either out.
Jarnkrok needs to play however, and needs to get his form back however Toronto could definitely use Robertson's offensive potential now that Laughton can add the defensive portion of things.
Toronto's defensive situation becomes much better and Carlo gives them a true Top 4 once Chris Tanev returns from injury. He's been stellar in recent years, and this season was a bright defensive spot in a dark time for the Bruins.
They will both also add a lot to Toronto's penalty kill, a unit that has recently become fairly average and had problems with discipline.
Ii feels like a pretty solid lineup all things considered, and it will be fun to see how the new additions play out with the new look Maple Leafs; but as always, Craig Berube can change things around at a moment's notice.
