The Maple Leafs will have a new-look lineup when they take on the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night inside the Bell Centre, but Simon Benoit won't be in it.
The 25-year-old left-shot defenseman has played 49 games this season with Toronto. Benoit has provided physicality, reliability in the defensive zone, and a lot of heart since he joined the Maple Leafs on a one-year deal in August.
He's been in the lineup for 34 straight games but will be a healthy scratch against his hometown team in Montreal on Saturday.
"Quite frankly, it kills me to have to sit Benoit here tonight, especially in this building," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said following the team's morning skate on Saturday. "But I didn't make the schedule, and it's what's necessary for our team here tonight."
One of the priorities for Toronto throughout this season was to find a right-shot defenseman. They already had one in Timothy Liljegren before going out and acquiring Ilya Lyubushkin.
A few others — who are left-shot defensemen — have played on the right side before, including TJ Brodie, Jake McCabe, and Benoit. With how Brodie's season has gone in that position, and McCabe being the veteran over Benoit, the Maple Leafs elected to put McCabe on his off-side while also getting new acquisition Joel Edmundson into his first game with the team.
All those changes on the back end led to Benoit being the odd man out for the Maple Leafs on defense against Montreal.
"We feel like we need Liljegren's right shot. We wanted to get Liljegren with (Joel) Edmundson. See how that can come together for us," Keefe said on Saturday.
"I think this is an important time in Liljegren's development here for us. Now we're through the trade deadline. We know what our group looks like, and [it'll] give Lilly a chance to grow within the role and with Edmundson."
This has nothing to do with Benoit's play but more so just having so many bodies on defense. To put things into perspective, Benoit leads all defensemen on the Maple Leafs who've played 500+ minutes in GF% at five-on-five at 54.72%, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
He also leads the team in hits with 174, nine ahead of McCabe and 95 more than any other defenseman that's not McCabe on the Maple Leafs this season.
Aside from Lyubushkin, who has a cap hit of $687,500 (after 75% of his salary was retained by the Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes), Benoit's $775,000 annual average value is the cheapest among Maple Leafs defensemen.
As Keefe said on Saturday, though, Benoit being scratched is mainly because of how the defense shapes out with McCabe on the right side and Edmundson in the lineup.
"We like how the other pairs set up, so that's really it."
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