A tough break for the Toronto Maple Leafs: captain John Tavares will miss a minimum of two weeks with a broken finger sustained late in the third period versus Washington last night.
The @MapleLeafs announced today that centre John Tavares sustained a broken finger late in last night’s game in Washington.
He will be out of the lineup for a minimum of two weeks, at which point he will be reassessed by the team's medical staff.
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) October 17, 2019
John Tavares took a Morgan Rielly point shot off the right hand the shift before he scored late in last night's game at Washington. As it turns out, that goal was scored with a broken finger.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 17, 2019
The first true test of the team’s center depth comes at an inopportune time for the Leafs, with a tough schedule (including BOS x2, WSH, SJ) and two more back-to-backs coming up in the next two weeks.
The Leafs‘ available options:
- Alex Kerfoot moves up a spot down the middle and one of Jason Spezza or Nick Shore steps in at center (if it’s Shore, Nic Petan or Spezza join the fourth line on the wing for the time being).
- William Nylander shifts into center and Kasperi Kapanen moves up on the RW. Odds are Babcock will want to keep at least one top line intact with Johnsson – Matthews – Nylander, though. However, Johnsson – Matthews – Kapanen had plenty of reps together last season, so it’s a possibility.
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Nylander did hold his own at center in the playoffs (and whenever he’s been asked to play it in the past); it would be an interesting experiment to see him with wingers like Moore or Mikheyev rather than Brown/Marleau. Spezza or Petan could slot in on the other side on the wing. An even more interesting thought is Nylander jumping in at C next to Marner, but it seems far-fetched. - The route of least interruption would be to keep the fourth line together with Timashov – Gauthier – Shore and leave the Matthews line together. Both lines have been fairly consistent. From there, you could create a Moore/Mikheyev – Kerfoot – Marner second line along with a Moore/Mikheyev – Spezza – Kapanen third line. Babcock trusting Spezza to play third-line center minutes is a big if, though. At the same time, he would be on a sheltered scoring line in this situation versus playing on a grinding/checking fourth line that starts mostly in the defensive zone.
Projected Lines sans Tavares
Johnsson – Matthews – Nylander
Moore/Mikheyev – Kerfoot – Marner
Mikheyev/Moore – Spezza – Kapanen
Timashov – Gauthier – Shore
More than anyone else, it’s arguably Mitch Marner who needs to find another level to his play from what we’ve seen in the early season and really start driving his line for the Leafs in Tavares’ absence. That’s the expectation for a $10.9 million player. Auston Matthews will also now take on the bulk of the head-to-head matchups with Tavares out — there is no Nazem Kadri around anymore — and that will mean some big tests of his 200-foot game against the likes of Patrice Bergeron, Logan Couture, and Nicklas Backstrom in the coming weeks.
As for the power play, it could be an opportunity for Trevor Moore to move up into the bumper role on the top power-play unit. If Jason Spezza takes a half wall spot on power-play #2, though, it could be that Alex Kerfoot shifts into the middle of the top unit; the problem being the bumper role may not be a natural fit for a non-shooter like Kerfoot, although he is crafty enough and can tip pucks effectively. Perhaps Andreas Johnsson shifts out of the net-front spot into the bumper role and someone like Ilya Mikheyev takes on the role in front, or maybe they try out William Nylander‘s right shot in the middle of the top power play.
With the team taking an off-day today, we’ll have more clarity on what the coaching staff plans to do with their forward lines and power-play units at practice tomorrow. Eight games in, the Toronto Maple Leafs have their first real adversity test of the season.
