Maple Leafs Shuffle Lines, Hinting at Questionable Roster Decision For Saturday's Clash With Kraken

Following a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over the New York Rangers on Thursday, the Leafs held a very brief practice on Friday morning.

After scoring the OT winner on Thursday night and playing more than 22 minutes, Auston Matthews was given the day off to rest.

After playing 3 games this week with the same lineup, the Leafs appear to be pondering some changes on Saturday, which were reflected during line rushes at practice on Friday.

The most notable change was Calle Jarnkrok moving up to the top line, acting as a placeholder for Matthews, which more than likely means he'll be coming out of the lineup.

Steven Lorentz was also a full participant in practice, skating in his usual spot on the 4th line, albeit this time with Nicolas Roy and Dakota Joshua. After practice, Craig Berube gave added fuel that Lorentz will likely be in the lineup.

Easton Cowan saw his ice-time cut in the third period of last night's game, but it's doubtful that the Leafs would pull him out of the lineup, given how well he has played through his first 3 NHL games.

When it comes to Jarnkrok, if the Leafs do indeed remove him from the lineup in favour of Steven Lorentz, the Leafs will be sacrifice some of their secondary scoring. The Swedish forward has 3 goals in 5 games to start the season.

Saturday's morning skate still leaves time for Berube to make additional changes. Another option, if the Leafs don't want to remove Jarnkrok from the lineup, is to potentially have him skate on the 3rd line, sitting Nick Robertson instead, as the Leafs continue to ponder trade offers for the young winger.