Toronto Maple Leafs Searching for Chemistry

The Toronto Maple Leafs are off to a mediocre start this season with a 3-2-1 record for seven points through six games. One factor for the mediocre start is that the Leafs have so many new players. Some nights, the Leafs have whole new lines trying to learn on the fly how to play together. Some of these issues should have been addressed during the pre-season, but chemistry takes time.

I think Nicolas Roy deserves to be given a longer look at third-line centre. He is a defensively responsible player who fits the Craig Berube mold of what type of players he’d like on his Toronto Maple Leafs team. However, if he keeps moving Roy up and down in the lineup, Roy’s not going to build chemistry with anyone. The same goes for other newcomers like Matias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua, and Easton Cowan. Berube needs to find where these players fit and keep them there long enough to allow them to build chemistry with their linemates.

New Lines

Now, obviously, Maccelli is not Mitch Marner, but he has a lot of the right tools and the proper skillset to be able to do well on the Leafs’ top line. However, he needs time to learn how to play with Matthew Knies and Auston Matthews. He had a down year in Utah last season, but if you watch highlights of some of the passes he’s capable of making, he could benefit that line.

As for Easton Cowan, I think he, Nicholas Robertson, and Calle Jarnkrok will continue to be rotated in and out of the lineup. That is, unless the rumors of a Robertson trade actually happen. The best thing for Cowan is to play regularly and not be sitting as a healthy scratch for too many games. So far, Jarnkrok has looked good, and he’s making it difficult for Berube to justify taking him out of the lineup right now.

Dakota Joshua is another player who’s looking to find his place with his new team. I think he would benefit from playing consistently on the third line with Roy and Jarnkrok. However, it appears that he will have to adjust to being up and down between the third and fourth lines. He has shown in the past, while he was with the Vancouver Canucks, that he can chip in offensively, and that is what Berube wants from his third line.

Too Early for Maple Leafs to Panic

Now, the main thing to remember is that it is still only October. There is time to get on track. I always wait until the United States Thanksgiving before worrying too much about how teams are playing. By late November, a team should know what they have and how best to utilize it. So, before I criticize the Leafs too much, I must remember that it’s too early in the season to hit the panic button.

I just hope that coach Berube is building this team to play his style and make the Leafs a very difficult team to play against. That is what all the hype has been about since Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said he was changing the team’s DNA in the off-season. Time to start seeing it happen on the ice.