Leafs put out new lines ahead of opening night
Whether the Toronto Maple Leafs win or lose tomorrow against the Montreal Canadiens will likely have little impact on their season as a whole.
But for new head coach Craig Berube, he’s hoping to get his team’s identity right from the get-go.
“We are in the winning business, and we want to win games. At the same time, we want to play sound hockey defensively and do things right offensively,” Berube told reporters on Monday. “You want to look at where your team is at in 10 games. There are all kinds of things to look at it, but it is stuff that is evaluated on a daily basis after every game. What did we do well, and what can we keep improving on?”
While sweeping changes were rumoured for the Leafs this offseason, that didn’t happen to be the case. Just five players on the team’s opening roster are without experience with the team, all of which were signed as free agents. The majority of last year’s roster is returning for another year, with Berube himself being the biggest change for the team.
“We want to get the identity down so that night in and night out, there is a certain style that we play,” Berube added. “How is your penalty kill? How is your power play? How is the defensive side of things? Offensively, how are we scoring goals? How are they going in?”
As per The Hockey News’ David Alter, here’s how the Leafs forwards lined up at practice today.
- Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews- Mitch Marner
- Max Domi-John Tavares-William Nylander
- Max Pacioretty-Pontus Holmberg-Nick Robertson
- Steven Lorentz-David Kampf-Ryan Reaves
- Extra: Bobby McMann, Connor Dewar (IR)
And here are the defenders:
- Morgan Rielly-Chris Tanev
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Jake McCabe
- Simon Benoit-Conor Timmins
- Timothy Liljegren-Philippe Myers
- Extras: Jani Hakanpaa (LTIR)
Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz are Toronto’s two goalies, though Berube has yet to announce his starter for tomorrow.
Puck drop on Toronto’s first game is set for 7 pm ET on Wednesday evening.
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