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This season, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have a new coach behind the bench. After five years, Sheldon Keefe has lost his position… and Craig Berube will replace him.
We’ll see if this really has an impact, but at least the Leafs are stirring the pot.
Speaking of stirring the pot, though, it won’t just be behind the bench. At the start of camp in Toronto, we note that William Nylander is being used… at center.
It’s not the first time, but last year, Keefe abandoned the experiment very, very quickly.
And Nylander obviously didn’t like that… who took a swipe at Keefe today when asked why the experiment ended so quickly last year:
I don’t know. Ask my old coach. – William Nylander.
William Nylander on starting at center again:
“I’m excited. I told Chief that the most important thing is I can’t just play one game if you want to try center. We agree on that …”
Why was experiment so short last year?
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask my old coach (smile)”
– Mark Masters (@markhmasters) September 19, 2024
You can tell from his comments that Nylander didn’t necessarily appreciate not having a little more time to adapt to the center position. After all, he’s been playing on the wing for years… and you’d think he’d need a little more time to acclimatize.
To change his position only to abandon the project after one game… it’s a bit of a waste of time, after all.
It will be interesting to see what the Maple Leafs’ lineup looks like this season. If Nylander is actually used at center on a regular basis, that’ll make three high-quality center players in town with Auston Matthews and John Tavares.
We know the club has good wingers (Mitch Marner, Matthew Knies, Max Domi, Bobby McMann, Calle Jarnkrok, Max Pacioretty, etc.)… but will Tavares pivot a third line? A third center at $11 million is a bit expensive.
We’ll have to see how everything evolves… but to hear Nylander talk, we seem to understand that this is a change that’s here to stay.
Overtime
– Lane Hutson moves like a forward, says Nick Suzuki.
“He (Lane Hutson) moves around kinda like another forward. He’s not afraid to go to the paint, go behind the net, in the corners. He makes plays off of that. He’s gotta find a balance between being caught & trying to get back first guy on defense. He’s played that way his whole… pic.twitter.com/mFvtN92Vic
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) September 20, 2024
– Wow.
Niklas Kokko unveiled one of the coolest glove/blocker sets in the league
(via @EmeraldCityHky) pic.twitter.com/VK4cViAvXh
– B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) September 18, 2024
