Simon Benoit Appears Poised For a Promotion with the Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs came away from their 5-2 loss against New Jersey a little banged up, with defenseman Chris Tanev forced out of the contest due to an upper body injury.

After the game, head coach Craig Berube was a man of few words, but mentioned that it's quite possible the veteran defenseman is expected to miss time.

While today's practice was optional, the Leafs reconfigured some of their pairs ahead of Friday's contest against Buffalo.

It's hard to truly gauge what can come out of a highly optional skate -- however, with Philippe Myers expected to step into the lineup, he was seen practicing with Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

That would then suggest that Ekman-Larsson's regular defensive partner, Simon Benoit, is now promoted up the lineup to fill Tanev's spot with Jake McCabe, leaving Brandon Carlo and Morgan Rielly intact as the other pairing.

There is some familiarity between Benoit and McCabe as they played 130.1 minutes together last year at 5-on-5. Unfortunately, their numbers weren't all that great as they held a 42.9% xGoals% and a 3.32 xGoals Against Per 60 Minutes, which was ranked dead last on the team with pairings that played over 30 minutes together, according to MoneyPuck.

As for the Ekman-Larsson and Myers pairing, they only played together for 28.9 minutes but they might have been even worse with a 26.1% xGoals% and 3.53 xGoals Against Per 60 Minutes.

Interestingly enough, one of the better pairings from the 2024-25 season in terms of xGoals Against Per 60 Minutes was with McCabe and Myers. However, considering how many minutes McCabe will likely play in Tanev's absence, they might be wary about giving Myers that assignment.

It could be a real cause for concern that the Leafs are seemingly rolling with 2 of their worst defensive pairings from the previous year, especially if Tanev is sidelined for an extended period of time. Expect some experimentation and in-game adjustments if things don't work out as planned.

With today's practice being optional, tomorrow's session should decide how they're expected to line up against the Buffalo Sabres ahead of their home-and-home series this weekend.