Sheldon Keefe reveals projected lineup for tonight's game vs Capitals

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Tom Banks
March 28, 2024 (1:58 PM)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have dealt with plenty of injury and illness as of late, and ahead of a game against the Capitals, Sheldon Keefe has revealed his lineup.

Toronto are already dealing with the loss of Mitch Marner, as well as some niggling injuries to several players, and now, his top star may be in doubt for a huge showdown against Washington.

Auston Matthews game-time decision: illness

With Matthews obviously in doubt due to the illness, the Maple Leafs lines once again looked different at practice, with this being the lineup that Keefe skated this morning;

Bertuzzi-Domi-Marner (placeholder)
McMann-Tavares-Nylander
Knies-Holmberg-Robertson
Dewar-Kampf-Reaves
Extra: Gregor

McCabe-Liljegren
Brodie-Lyubushkin
Benoit-Timmins
Extra: Giordano

Mitch Marner is still not cleared to return, so it's likely that Nylander and Robertson both step up to the line above them while Gregor comes into the lineup, which is still a solid team for Toronto. However, if Matthews is ready to go, he'll simply slide back in on the top line and push Domi out to the right wing, with everything else looking very similar to what we've seen as of late.

Defensively, we still don't see Joel Edmundson, who has been dealing with a nagging injury of his own, but with Mark Giordano as the extra for tonight's game, the depth remains solid on the blue line.

This will be Toronto's first game since the 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils that saw Sheldon Keefe call out John Tavares and the leaders of this team, so expect them to come out firing to respond to the major criticism.

Even with injuries and illness, this still remains a formidable lineup, but with the Stanley Cup Playoffs now less than a month away, they'll be hoping that they can be at 100% and ready to go when that time comes.

Source - Maple Leafs Daily:

Leafs provide update on Matthews, reveal projected lines for tonight