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

[RickyVaive]

That was just a bad dream, wasn't it?

 

[Bloomberg]

Grundstrom Matthews Nylander
Marleau Tavares Marner
Hyman Kadri Kapanen
Johnsson Lindholm Brown


Reilly Hainsey
Dermott Zaitzev
Hamhuis (FA) - Ozhiganov

 

[RoadWarrior]

I forgot about Ozhiganov but he could replace Polak in the lineup.

 

[Boutette]

Honestly, this is all like shuffling deck chairs on a battleship. The lines are going to be scary for other teams to face no matter who plays with who.

 

[Discordia]

Kadri and Tavares will play the same role on different powerplay units.

Matthews, Tavares, Marner are likely going to make up PP1. One of Riley/Gardiner will be on the backend, but unsure who is the other side.

Nylander, Kadri, Marleau are likely going to make up PP2. One of Riley/Gardiner will be on the backend, but unsure who is the other side.

That leaves Hyman, Brown, Kapanen, Johnsson, Zaitzev, Dermott, to fill up the two remaining spots.

I imagine both powerplays will be ran similar.

Kadri and Tavares will be net front presence/tips. Matthews and Marleau will be shooters and Marner and Nylander will be the playmaker/quaterback.

Gardiner and Riley are opposite. Gardiner likes to take big shots, Riley likes to flutter ball it on net hoping for rebounds/tips. Not sure which works better for who.

Kapanen, Johnsson are relative unknowns on the PP - but if I remember correctly, Johnsson was basically used like Matthews would be down with the Marlies. Can't remember on Kapa.

I think Nylander takes a D spot on the PP, leaving a side option open to one of the above. Not sure Marner can quarterback from the blueline - his success came from the hashmarks.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you the 2008 - 09 Toronto Maple Leafs....

Ponikarovsky - Stajan - Antropov
Hagman - Moore - Blake
Kulemin - Grabovski - Stempniak
May - Mitchell - Mayers

Kaberle - Schenn
Kubina - White
Frogren - Finger

Toskala
Joseph

Just for a bit of perspective.

 

[Battle Lin]

the only question now is,

matthews - marner
matthews - nylander
tavares - marner
tavares - nylander

who gets who

 

[HomerJLeafs]

I think AM really hated to play with Hyman. He obviously loves to play with Will but Hyman is another story. Just based on his body language he was never high on Zach. He always excluded Hyman. It was always AM and Will. I think its great to have Hyman off his wing.

 

[Not My Tempo]

Could you imagine if we sign Neal to a 1 year deal?

Marleau - Matthews - Nylander
Neal - Tavares - Marner
Johnsson - Kadri - Kapanen
Hyman - Lindholm - Brown

 

[SprDaVE]

Could you imagine if we sign Neal to a 1 year deal?

Marleau - Matthews - Nylander
Neal - Tavares - Marner
Johnsson - Kadri - Kapanen
Hyman - Lindholm - Brown

Neal is one the veterans that may want to join for a year... but I think he got 6 year offers... seems unlikely.

I'd offer him a 1 year 7M contract or something ridiculous.

 

[Rob Brown]

Could you imagine if we sign Neal to a 1 year deal?

Marleau - Matthews - Nylander
Neal - Tavares - Marner
Johnsson - Kadri - Kapanen
Hyman - Lindholm - Brown

I think Johnsson and Hyman would swap in that scenario, but yeah, that's deadly. I'd almost rather give that kind of 1 year deal to someone like CDH, though.

 

[67Leafs67]

According to Chris Johnston, this will be the Leafs top six to start next season:

Marleau - Matthews - Nylander
Hyman - Tavares - Marner

With that framework in mind, I see this as our bottom six:
Johnsson - Kadri - Brown
Leivo - Lindholm - Kapanen

With Tavares bumping Kadri out of a top-six role, I see his line as being more leaned on for checking, and less for goals, and I see Brown as superior to Kapanen in that kind of role. It is tempting to think of Kapanen and Johnsson alongside each other, burning teams with their speed, with Kadri in the middle.

Personally, I would rather see, and almost suspect something like this to emerge:

Johnsson - Tavares - Marner
Hyman - Matthews - Nylander
Marleau - Kadri - Brown
Leivo - Lindholm - Kapanen

 

[TheGroceryStick]

I'm excited for the power play

Matthews - Tavares - Marner
Rielly- Nylander

Marleau - Kadri - Kapanen
Gardiner- Johnsson

 

[namttebih]

Brown looks really good on the 4th line.

He really does. With the amount of special teams that he plays, less 5v5 probably isn't a bad thing. He can always move up the lineup for injuries or if the team just needs a shuffle.

 

[namttebih]

Possibly AJ is ahead of Leivo, but he’s also a bit more experienced in a penalty killing role, and there’s an opportunity to maximize value out of players this way.
Boosting Leivo’s value while grooming AJ and Kap in lesser roles could provide better assets next offseason while keeping dollar values down a smidge.

I think that you guys are selling Grundstrom short. He has been a beast in both Sweden and the A playing against men. I have him playing with the big club next year. He looked dominant on the Marlies at times these playoffs and has great chemistry with Johnsson.

 

[namttebih]

I'm excited for the power play

Matthews - Tavares - Marner
Rielly- Nylander

Marleau - Kadri - Kapanen
Gardiner- Johnsson

Drool.

 

[The CyNick]

I'm excited for the power play

Matthews - Tavares - Marner
Rielly- Nylander

Marleau - Kadri - Kapanen
Gardiner- Johnsson

From Babs interview it sounded like they will roll with two PP units similar to last year.

He specifically said JT would replace JVR on PP.

So got a feeling it will be JT with Naz, Marner and a rotating spot.

Then Marleau with Matthews, Nylander and Brown.

 

[namttebih]

The ages of our forwards

(38) (20) (21)
(26) (27) (22)
(23) (27) (22)
(20) (23) (24)

The draft positions of our forwards

(2) (1) (4)
(123) (1) (8)
(202) (7) (22)
(57) (21) (156)

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

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

Rielly-TRADE (please)
Gardiner-Hainsey
Dermott-Zaitsev

Andersen
Mcelhinney/Sparks/Pickard

 

[Battle Lin]

your top 2 lines are gonna face a lot of top 2 nhl lines too, so a lot of skill and talent to face, so you gotta have a strong 3 zone player on each...someone who hustles, has effort, strong skater, strong on the forecheck, and plays great D...so i see 1 of hyman and brown each on one of the top 2 lines, our 2 best defensive forwards, that will be huge for us on the PK this year and actually have more than decent offense

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

a 1C with a skilled winger and hustle winger balances well with our top 2 so i hope our top 9 looks like that...there will be a battle for the last 2 spots, 4c and 1 more wing...leivo, jooris, par, gauthier, and grunny can all earn spots with a good camp as well as a few long shots

 

[Peiskos]

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

Rielly - XXX
Gardiner - Zaitsev
Dermott - Hainsey
Carrick

Andersen
Pickard

Our window to win the cup is 110% wide open, signing Tavares is a great sign management feels the same. That centre depth is just sensational, do not recall a time its ever been better.

Also happy Komarov and Bozak are gone, we're a better team without those 2 IMO and it solidifies Johnsson and Kappy's spots in the line up fill time. Sucks to see JVR head back to Philly but hey I'd lose him to get Tavares any day.

 

[Discordia]

Here's your lines on opening night:

Marleau-Matthews-Nylander
Hyman-Tavares-Marner
Kapanen-Kadri-Brown
Leivo-Lindholm-Johnsson

Riley-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitzev
Dermott-Holl

Matthews-Tavares-Marner -PP1
*Zaitzev-Riley

Marleau-Kadri-Johnsson -PP2
Nylander-Gardiner

Zaitzev might be replaced with Kapanen, Brown or Hyman.
---

Babcock won't stack PP1 with everyone. He'll save Nylander and run PP2 through him. PP1 is run through Marner. Riley is a quarterback of the Kaberle variety (No shot, all pass) so they want a big shot to pair with him. They won't make a Riley-Gardiner PP pair because it weakens PP2.

Gardiner is on PP2 because he has a shot from the point and PP2 is going to need that extra dimension.

PP1 will be run through Marner off the halfwall, with Riley providing airsupport from the top.

PP2 will be run through Nylander on the point and half wall, allowing for Gardiner to prime one-timers off Nylander passes. Marleau is the hash mark shooter threat (ala Matthews) and Kadri is the tip/tap in specialist ala Tavares.

There will be more puck movement on PP1 and more player movement on PP2. Look for Nylander to run the play from the half wall to the back end.

 

[Intact]

I think Tavares should play with Nylander. Nylander is more of a threat in the slot and is well suited to letting Tavares dominate on the boards and around the net. He will be attracting tons of attention just with his speed and shot, doesn't need the puck as much as Marner to be effective.

The third piece is a puck retrieval and pursuit type player. My gut tells me that Hyman is the best fit, he fits excellently with Nylander. However, I would like a better finisher to tap it in Tavares' gifts, I'm not familiar enough with Johnsson and if he could play this role.

Marner and Matthews have always been a great fit. I think Babcock would much rather have Marner as the engine behind his own line than Nylander so thats why we've done what we have the last 2 years

 

[diceman934]

Kadri and Tavares will play the same role on different powerplay units.

Matthews, Tavares, Marner are likely going to make up PP1. One of Riley/Gardiner will be on the backend, but unsure who is the other side.

Nylander, Kadri, Marleau are likely going to make up PP2. One of Riley/Gardiner will be on the backend, but unsure who is the other side.

That leaves Hyman, Brown, Kapanen, Johnsson, Zaitzev, Dermott, to fill up the two remaining spots.

I imagine both powerplays will be ran similar.

Kadri and Tavares will be net front presence/tips. Matthews and Marleau will be shooters and Marner and Nylander will be the playmaker/quaterback.

Gardiner and Riley are opposite. Gardiner likes to take big shots, Riley likes to flutter ball it on net hoping for rebounds/tips. Not sure which works better for who.

Kapanen, Johnsson are relative unknowns on the PP - but if I remember correctly, Johnsson was basically used like Matthews would be down with the Marlies. Can't remember on Kapa.

I think Nylander takes a D spot on the PP, leaving a side option open to one of the above. Not sure Marner can quarterback from the blueline - his success came from the hashmarks.

Rielly is his name he has been here long enough to get his name correct.

Marner is quarterbacking the pp from blue line it is just that we are playing an umbrella spread. Same as Nylander on the second Unit.

 

[Nylander88]

Marleau-Matthews-Nylander
Hyman-Tavares-Marner
------------------------------------------as per Babcock ^
Johnsson-Kadri-Kapanen
Leivo/Grundstrom-Jooris/Lindholm-Brown

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Carrick
Dermott-Zaitsev

Andersen
Sparks