Maple Leafs Shuffle Defensive Pairs and Forward Lines Ahead of Clash with Oilers

Returning to practice on Friday ahead of their game against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, the Leafs were without Auston Matthews as he continues to deal with an upper-body injury and Max Domi, who appears to be nursing something minor as well.

The absences at practice forced Craig Berube to shuffle his forward lines with the William Nylander playing center, just as he did during the pre-season.

Nylander centered Matthew Knies and Nicholas Robertson, while John Tavares was between Bobby McMann and Mitch Marner. The bottom-six featured David Kampf moving up to the third line with Pontus Holmberg and Alex Steeves, while Steven Lorentz continues to center Connor Dewar and Ryan Reaves on the fourth line.

Wednesday saw Jani Hakanpaa make his season debut after finally being cleared from LTIR and the Leafs must have really enjoyed what he brought to the table as Hakanpaa appears set to take on a larger role Saturday as he skated with Morgan Rielly.

With Hakanpaa skating next to Rielly, that means that Ekman-Larsson slots down onto the third pairing with Conor Timmins while the 'shutdown' pairing of Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev remained together.

Matthews has already been confirmed to be out for Saturday's game, while Domi's status is questionable, but likely. Depending on Domi's status, the Leafs may be without two of their top-six forwards, meaning Robertson could find his way back into the lineup.

Saturday will also kick off a very unique schedule for the Leafs as it will be their first of just three games over 13 days, giving Matthews and anyone else that is banged up plenty of time to rest and recover.