Line Combos: Leafs Lines Going Into Next Season (2018-2019)

[81Leafs50]

some of these linups posted in this thread are cringe worthy. be realistic people.

 

[SHANNYPLAN]

Marleau - Matthews - Marner
Johnsson - Tavares - Nylander
Hyman - - - Kadri - - Kapanen
Grundström - Gauthier - Brown

Rielly - - - - Zaitsev
Gardiner - Hainsey
Dermott - Ozhiganov

 

[IceHockeyDude]

How has Eemeli Räsänen looked this season? Does he have a chance to be in the line-up next season or after that?

 

[Lauro]

Hyman - Matthews - Brown
Marleau - Kadri - Marner
Johnsson - Nylander - Kapanen
Leivo - Aaltonen - Grundström

 

[luvdahattymatty]

the forward lines will take care of themselves. leafs will be top 5 in nhl scoring next year no matter how they do their lines. the issue will be how can they improve their backend so other teams have a much harder time getting to Andersen. it is a monumental job from where they are currently. good luck shanny and dubby. this is a monster job.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

How has Eemeli Räsänen looked this season? Does he have a chance to be in the line-up next season or after that?

I have a feeling he will be one of those prospects who require overcooking as most huge defenseman do.

He won't be ready for next season for sure.

 

[LeafingTheWay]

the forward lines will take care of themselves. leafs will be top 5 in nhl scoring next year no matter how they do their lines. the issue will be how can they improve their backend so other teams have a much harder time getting to Andersen. it is a monumental job from where they are currently. good luck shanny and dubby. this is a monster job.

That's the problem. The forward lines ARE part of the issue. The forward lines have to be better defensively by a lot. Even if we got better D-men, we would still struggle because of the amount of cheating this forward group does.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Hyman - Matthews - Brown
Marleau - Kadri - Marner
Johnsson - Nylander - Kapanen
Leivo - Aaltonen - Grundström

Man that is such a young in-experienced team. I have a feeling it would get eaten alive in the playoffs. Literally 2 players who have more than 2 NHL season under their belt in the entire 4 lines.

That being said, it could also work lol.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

That's the problem. The forward lines ARE part of the issue. The forward lines have to be better defensively by a lot. Even if we got better D-men, we would still struggle because of the amount of cheating this forward group does.

This is such a key point I don't think people seem to be getting. The forwards needs to be better at covering their defense when they make pinches or make that hustle back to cover your man on the back check etc.

When you watch other teams and see the defensive effort seemingly their entire forward core puts in, it is a stark difference to Toronto.

 

[Boutette]

That's the problem. The forward lines ARE part of the issue. The forward lines have to be better defensively by a lot. Even if we got better D-men, we would still struggle because of the amount of cheating this forward group does.

in case some people haven't noticed, the team replacing it 3 forwards who are most demonstrably either have no interest in helping out defensively (JVR, Bozak) and one who is no longer much help in that area or offence (Komarov). We will be replacing them with younger, faster, far more defensively capable players who have been coached and trained for 200 foot games and/or are good possession players that the 3rd and 4th opposition lines will have a hell of a time handling (Kapanen, Johnsson, Aaltonen, Grundstrom, Lindholm, Lievo are internal options. Possibly a UFA or two might be added to the mix).

 

[saffronleaf]

Hope that Matthews plays with Marner. Hopefully Nylander either plays wing on the second line (with hopefully Tavares or Kovalchuk) or centers his own line (with maybe Johnsson and Kapanen).

Matthews keeps whining about wanting to play with Marner, so let him play with Marner. Nylander can play with more appreciative linemates.

 

[BigWilly]

I'll take a stab.
In reality there will be a couple of outside additions that displace players below. Bozak is also uncertain but given how thin the centre market is I think he'll be the one guy they try to hold onto (if the contract is reasonable).

Hyman	Matthews	Nylander
Marleau	Kadri	Marner
Grundstrom	Bozak	Brown
Johnsson	Aaltonen	Kapanen

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Rielly	Dermott
Gardiner	Zaitsev
Hainsey	Ozhiganov

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[Griffin76]

Inexperienced and maybe a little soft but may be fun to watch.

Grundstrom Matthews Kapanen
Marleau Kadri Marner
Johnsson Nylander Hyman
Aaltonen Gauthier Brown
Martin

First line would be dynamic
Second line was great last year, no need to break it up
Third. Nylander, I believe is ready. Hyman knows how to help and defer to the talented guys.
Fourth has 2 centers so Martin could be moved in when muscle is needed.

D
Rielly ??
Dermott Hainsey
Rosen Zaitsev

If we have to go UFA hunting or make trades I would prefer to sign or use assets on D. Maybe Gardiner+ for a top 4 RHD.

Does it make us a cup contender? Maybe not but it looks like a fun roster to me.

 

[MR4]

That's the problem. The forward lines ARE part of the issue. The forward lines have to be better defensively by a lot. Even if we got better D-men, we would still struggle because of the amount of cheating this forward group does.

Wrong when our worst 2 defensive forwards (Bozak/JVR) will be replaced in the top 9 with awesome ones in Kappy/AJ.

This is what I'd run:

Grundstrom-Matthews-Marner
Johnsson-Nylander-Kapanen
Marleau-Kadri-Hyman
Leivo-Aaltonen/Lindholm-Brown

 

[B Champman]

my shot with Tavares signing

Hyman -Matthews- Marner/Nyl
Marleau/AJ - Tavares- Marner/Nyl
Marleau/AJ- Kadri - Kap/Brown
Grundstrom - Aaltonen - Kap/Brown

Depending on where you put Marleau Id say it makes hte best top 6/9 in the show.

If Tavares doesn't sign then Kadri/Marleau/Nyl becomes 2C and we need to find a 3C to replace Bozak.

Reilly - Hainsey
Dermott - Gardiner
Zaitsev - X

X = Rosen/Borgmann/Carrick/Polak for starting position
with Holl/Loverde/Liljegren/Nielson as potential callups

 

[67Leafs67]

Given the modus operandi thus far for the Leafs management group (and I doubt Dubas will change it too much - it's largely the same group, and he was groomed by Lamoriello), I seriously doubt any huge FA or trades are made this off-season. Add in some depth guys? Sure. We already signed our obligatory Europeans for the year with Ozhiganov and Lindholm. Maybe we go after a bottom six forward or two, add a few AHL level players to keep it competitive...can't see us doing much else. I could be wrong, but I'd bet on a lineup that looks something like this, at least to start the season:

Hyman - Matthews - Nylander
Marleau - Kadri - Marner
Johnsson - Aaltonen - Kapanen
Grundstrom - Lindholm - Brown

Rielly - Hainsey
Gardiner - Zaitsev
Dermott - Ozhiganov

Andersen
McElhinney

I'm pretty confident about the back end...maybe Carrick is in for Ozhiganov, or even a guy like Justin Holl.

On forward, maybe Nylander goes to C?

Hyman - Matthews - Brown
Marleau - Kadri - Marner
Johnsson - Nylander - Kapanen
Grundstrom - Aaltonen/Lindholm - Leivo

It's also very possible that the bottom line is quite different, with a free agent brought in. But I doubt that there's going to be any big lineup shakes, at least to start the season. Might change throughout the year.

 

[luvdahattymatty]

The problem is that defence is near bottom in the nhl. Gards is a converted centre who has never learned defence and probably never will. Zaitsev dropped off to an AHL quality dman last year. Hainsey is ok but his age with minutes played really showed last year. The Russian i don't know anything about but hope he is good.

So that leaves us with Rielly and Dermott who are 2 good puck moving fast skating dmen.

2 out of 6 nhl dmen is what we have right now. And in the group of the other 4 there is no physical size and intimidation needed for playoff hockey. In fact the whole group of 6 has no size muscle and mean play in them except Dermott who is undersized for that role.

This will be a fun team to watch as they will score a lot of goals and play a fast uptempo stretch pass game and breakout. Amazing regular season team which should be able to get 110 points this season. After a third year of disappointing playoff results things will get changed but maybe this season they can convince themselves that the guys are young and will develop. personally i think team needs another 2 hyman types up front and 3 mean nasties on defence. Opposing forwards need to fear going hard to our net for grade A chances. Today the nhl fears leafs speed and skill but they know it can be overcome with physical force down low in our end. Every other team in league says same thing to their guys dump it in on Gards. Hit him, he will give it up and then cycle cycle and score. In playoffs it gets more serious and guys will do what it takes to win. It will keep on occuring. Same old same old unless Dubas does something about the issue.

 

[Battle Lin]

man we got over 20mill in cap, are we really not adding anyone, even though we do have 9 top 9 forwards already

hyman - matthews - marner
marleau - kadri - kapanen
johnsson - nylander - brown

 

[ShameOnYouZidlicky]

Johnsson - Matthews - Marner
Marleau - Kadri - Brown
Hyman - Nylander - Kapanen
XXX - Aaltonen - Leivo
Lindholm, Martin

Reilly - YYY
Dermott - Green
Hainsey - Zaitsev
Borgman/Ozhiganov/Rosen/Holl

Andersen
Sparks/McIlhinney

XXX = UFA LW: Maroon (pipe dream), Calvert, Comeau, Kunitz, Grabner, Schaller
YYY = Make a hockey trade with Gardiner. 1 for 1 type

 

[Liminality]

man we got over 20mill in cap, are we really not adding anyone, even though we do have 9 top 9 forwards already

hyman - matthews - marner
marleau - kadri - kapanen
johnsson - nylander - brown

We lose around 16m in cap space next year when Matthews and Marner need contracts. That's what makes everyone worried.

 

[Boutette]

man we got over 20mill in cap, are we really not adding anyone, even though we do have 9 top 9 forwards already

hyman - matthews - marner
marleau - kadri - kapanen
johnsson - nylander - brown

After we pay our RFAs we actually only have about $10 million+ whatever the cap increase ends up being.

 

[Battle Lin]

we have enough for a 1 year big offer at kovy or big joe, and another decent solid depth piece

 

[Nylander88]

- Matthews finally gets his wish to play with Marner after his and Babcocks "big talk"
- Babs & Marleau get Thornton to come over on a 1 year

Hyman-Matthews-Marner
Kapanen-Thornton-Nylander
Marleau-Kadri-Brown
Martin/Grundstrom-Aaltonen-Johnsson

Rielly-________(trade)
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Dermott-Hainsey

Andersen
McElhinney/Sparks

 

[Kyle089]

I'll give this a shot for my first post here.

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
Marleau - Kadri - Kapanen
Kovalchuk - Nylander - Brown
Johnsson - Aaltonen - Gundstrom

Rielly - Hainsey
Gardiner - Zaitsev
Dermott - Borgman/Rosen

Andersen
Sparks

With the forward group I think it's about time Babs finally puts Matthews and Marner together on a line. Hyman can keep doing his role of doing the dirty work and creating space, as Marner sets Matthews up for goals. Kapanen has been continuously improving the past 2 seasons, and I think he'd be a great fit with his speed and skill, on a line with Marleau and Kadri. Nylander gets to play more sheltered minutes on the 3rd line, as he learns how to play C in the NHL. Signing Kovalchuk and playing him on the 3rd line also hopefully keeps him fresh throughout the season. The fourth line will already have chemistry together and should be really fun to watch.

As for the defencemen, Ideally I would have Hainsey on the 3rd pairing, while also being used on the PK, but I don't see that happening right now. Gardiner maybe gets traded at some point in the season, but I see him being on the team at the beginning. I'm hoping Zaitsev can rebound next year, as I found he struggled, especially in the playoffs. I like all 3 of Dermott, Borgman and Rosen, and am hoping they continue to improve and eventually move higher up in the lineup.

In nets, obviously Freddy returns as the starter and am hoping Sparks can win the backup job.

 

[jaric1862]

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Johnsson-Kadri-Marner
Marleau-Nash-Brown
Grundstrom-Aaltonen/Lindholm-Kapanen
Gauthier-Leivo

Rielly- De Haan
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Dermott-Hainsey
Carrick

Andersen-Sparks/Pickard