Maple Leafs To Get Creative With Roster On Saturday Night Against Canadiens
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton - USA Today Sports
The Toronto Maple Leafs are heading into Saturday's matchup with the Montreal Canadiens with just 5 defensemen, and some plans to get creative with the roster.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been put in an unenviable position of having to dress just 5 defensemen ahead of tonight's matchup against the Montreal Canadiens.
Injuries to Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson coupled with little to no salary cap have made things difficult for head coach Craig Berube and the rest of the coaching staff.
Simon Benoit, Brandon Carlo, Phil Myers, Morgan Rielly, and Chris Tanev are going to be heavily leaned on tonight but that could also mean the Leafs could use one of their forwards if they're in a pinch.
Any time this exact conversation has popped up before, the most obvious and likeliest choice is Mitch Marner. He has played the position a few times in the past and his overall 2-way game as a forward has turned some heads in recent years.
As reported by David Alter of The Hockey News, Marner was essentially a game-time decision back on the 29th of February in 2024 when Mark Giordano went down with injury. They eventually dressed 6 defensemen but kept Marner in the back of their minds due to him also being a right-hand shot.
However, it seems like there might be a few more candidates in Steven Lorentz and Scott Laughton. The former has played some defense in his career as well and is willing to do just about anything if and when called upon by his coaching staff.
"It seems like they want to play D. I've played some D in my career too over the years, just trying to, again, fill in at times. And I think I've been exposed a few times, so hopefully I'm not back there for too long. But, no, if that were to come up, then I'd feel comfortable doing that. But there are a few guys that are more incapable of filling in for a few shifts, I think."
Laughton also has some experience on the back-end having played some in junior hockey. He's also very responsible defensively as a forward and that's become his bread and butter over the years. Nevertheless it's a very difficult position to play as a forward but in a pinch, it can be done by any of the aforementioned trio.
Whether or not Berube uses this wild card remains to be seen but he does have several options should his defense be in a pinch tonight against the Canadiens as the Leafs continue their pursuit for the Atlantic Division crown.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 12 | 2669 ANSWERS Maple Leafs To Get Creative With Roster On Saturday Night Against Canadiens Of the 3 forwards, which do you trust more in a defensive situation? | ||
| Steven Lorentz | 487 | 18.2 % |
| Mitch Marner | 1919 | 71.9 % |
| Scott Laughton | 263 | 9.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
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