NHL.com has revealed what they believe will be the Toronto Maple Leafs starting lineup next season, and there are a few surprise additions to it.
There will be some new faces in the Maple Leafs lineup next season, and one of those will be Chris Tanev. The 34-year-old defenseman was acquired via trade with the Dallas Stars at the end of June, and was subsequently signed to a six-year, $27 million contract on July 1st. Chris Tanev was brought in for his physical presence and for his stability. He will never shy away from a fight either. In his 75 games with the Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars last season, he scored two goals and added 17 assists. The expectation is that he will slot in on the first defensive pairing line with Morgan Reilly.
Another new face for the Leafs is Stanley Cup Champion defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson who is 33-years-old. He signed a four-year contract with the Leafs on July 1st just days after winning the Cup with the Florida Panthers.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson had a fabulous year with the Panthers in the 80 games he played with them, having scored nine goals and picking up 23 assists.
He also added six points in the 24 playoff games he played. Ekman-Larsson was brought in for his power-play prowess, as he has a nice career total of 186 man advantage points.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson is expected to play on the second defensive line, being paired with Timothy Liljegren.
Simon Benoit and Jake McCabe appear to round out the third defensive pairing line and are expected to help kill penalties.
Joseph Woll is likely going to start the year as the number one goalie, but if he starts to struggle, expect to see another new face in Anthony Stolarz take the reigns. Stolarz, like Ekman-Larsson, is fresh off a Stanley Cup win with the Florida Panthers. The 30-year-old Stolarz signed a two-year contract on July 1st with the Leafs after closing out the season with a 16-7-2 record, and an extremely impressive 2.03 GAA and .925 save %. He also recorded two shutouts as the back-up to Sergei Bobrovsky.
There really aren’t too many changes on the offensive side of things for the Leafs, as GM Brad Treliving really focused this off-season solidifying their blue line instead. The Leafs have never had issues scoring goals, but struggled defensively, so hopefully now that the defensive group seems solid, the offensive guys will be able to lead the team to greatness.
On the first line, we have the usual dynamic duo of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, as the two players combined for 95 goals and 192 points last season. The surprise appears to be who their left winger could be, as NHL.com believes Matthew Knies is likely to start the year on that first line.
Fans were a little critical of his performance last year, as he only had 35 points in 80 games, despite having played many games with Matthews and Marner. Hopefully head coach Craig Berube, who is also a new face, figures out a way to get Knies going.
The rest of the forward group appears to be very similar to last season, with the notable loss of Tyler Bertuzzi up front. The Leafs will no doubt miss his style of play, but are hopeful that some of the younger guys will be able to take charge and fill in.