Radio hosts call out pair of Leafs star forwards, suggest huge lineup change
Maple Leafs forwards Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner have openly admitted they have struggled lately to find any sort of chemistry and have been called out by Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe the past few games for not producing enough. Over his last seven games, Matthews has just three points and none of them have been at 5-on-5, while Marner also has three points over his last seven with just one of them being at 5-on-5.
On a Saturday night episode of "Leaf Talk", Sportsnet TheFAN590 radio hosts JD Bunkis and Sam McKee discussed the recent play of Matthews and Marner and made a very bold statement about them playing together.
"You got to go in there and say, hey guys, you aren't playing together for a little bit. It just feels like they are running it, their choice, they want to do it, they continue to do it. It's time to break them up, it really is...To me, for an accountability factor throughout the lineup, where it's like the guys that are lower in the lineup are watching their shifts, playing 25 minutes and I know the are the best players, but they just haven't been good enough, there's just not enough life to their games," said McKee.
Although Bunkis agrees that the Leafs need more from Matthews and Marner, he does raise a very good point about breaking up the Leafs top line and what that could do to what has been their best line of late, Tyler Bertuzzi, John Tavares and William Nylander.
"Here's the problem. Their best line right now and the one thing that's working is Bertuzzi, Tavares and Nylander and at this point, given the up and down nature of Bertuzzi's start to his Leafs career, I really don't want to mess with that. I don't want to take him away from those guys. So if you split up Matthews and Marner, all of a sudden, one of them, and by one of them I mean Marner is on the third line. You're faced with this choice of either you break up your best line and go to something different or you're limiting minutes of guys you want playing 20-plus every night. I don't see it happening any time soon unless they're willing to break up Tavares, Nylander and Bertuzzi and you tell me that part of it and I hate it."
Personally, I am on the side of Bunkis just because it is better to have one line that is working than having none. Maybe it isn't Matthews and Marner, but rather their left winger and rookie Matthew Knies that has thrown off their chemistry. Knies is still navigating his way through his rookie season and even though he has been good at times, he still has lots to learn and as Nick Kypreos mentioned late last week, could be overwhelmed right now.
The issue with moving Knies off of their line is that the Keefe would likely replace him with Calle Jarnkrok, who has been part of a very successful and productive third line with Max Domi and Nick Robertson. It puts Keefe in the difficult position of leaving the lines together and hope that Matthews, Marner and Knies figure things out, or disrupt two other lines that are producing. At the quarter mark of the season, without Matthews and Marner clicking, the latter option may be the best thing to do. With the Leafs back at practice today following a day off yesterday, it will be interesting to see if Keefe makes any changes ahead of their Tuesday night clash with the Florida Panthers.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 27 | 300 ANSWERS Radio hosts call out pair of Leafs star forwards, suggest huge lineup change Should the Leafs separate Matthews and Marner? | ||
| Yes - should have happened weeks ago | 173 | 57.7 % |
| No - can't change the second line | 61 | 20.3 % |
| Give it a couple more games | 66 | 22 % |
| List of polls | ||
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