With Mitch Marner continuing to rest and recover this week, the Leafs were back at practice on Friday, preparing to welcome the Edmonton Oilers to Scotiabank Arena tomorrow night on Hockey Night in Canada. Marner's absence has left a huge hole to fill on the top PP unit, which has struggled to produce much of anything of late. As it turns out, Sheldon Keefe believes that Domi could be the short-term answer to the top unit's problems, as Domi skated with Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander and Timothy Liljegren on the top PP unit at practice on Friday.
For Wednesday's game, it was Bertuzzi joining the top PP unit, so this could also be Guy Boucher's way of getting some different looks for that top unit in preparation for the playoffs. I don't expect that the Leafs will split up their loaded top unit unless an injury forces their hand, but it can never hurt to have a few different looks.
To date, Domi has just 2 power play points this season. However, both of these points were produced with the team's 2nd PP unit in very limited ice time. Could a larger role with more time on the top unit yield better results? It might. Domi has registered double digits in powerplay points 4 times over his 9 NHL seasons, breaking down as follows:
It's certainly worth giving Domi a look with the top unit, especially with Marner out. At the very least, it can't hurt. The Leafs have struggled with the man advantage of late, going 3-for-31 on powerplay attempts over their last 10 games. Woof.
