James Mirtle had an article in The Athletic today, trying to work out what the Leafs lines look like when optimized.
For the forwards, he said based on results;
Johnsson - Matthews - Kapanen
Hyman - Tavares - Marner
Marleau - Kadri - Nylander
Ennis/Moore - Lindholm - Brown
is the best usage of the lines.
For defense, it gets interesting.
He shows each defenders results when on the ice with each of the other defenders.
He says, at a glance, Rielly and Hainsey are essentially playing to a draw, with Rielly/Hainsey having a SCF% of 50.2%, while the Gardiner-Dermott is dominating against lower comp. with 63.8%
However, when you look at the Muzzin-Zaitsev pairing, they are sitting at 58.2%, which is the most productive Zaitsev has ever been as a Leaf.
Which brings us to the overall point, that it seems like Toronto has found the perfect partner for Nikita Zaitsev. For whatever reason, Zaitsev is now playing productive hockey beside Muzzin, getting results he couldn't beside Rielly, Dermott & Hainsey. Though with Gardiner, he's at 52%.
Mirtle states that right now, the Leafs D pairs are optimized, as Rielly-Hainsey are keeping the top competition in check, while Muzzin-Zaitsev and Gardiner-Dermott are dominating the lower competition. However he says, he does wonder how a Gardiner-Hainsey switch would fair.
For the forwards, he said based on results;
Johnsson - Matthews - Kapanen
Hyman - Tavares - Marner
Marleau - Kadri - Nylander
Ennis/Moore - Lindholm - Brown
is the best usage of the lines.
For defense, it gets interesting.
He shows each defenders results when on the ice with each of the other defenders.
He says, at a glance, Rielly and Hainsey are essentially playing to a draw, with Rielly/Hainsey having a SCF% of 50.2%, while the Gardiner-Dermott is dominating against lower comp. with 63.8%
However, when you look at the Muzzin-Zaitsev pairing, they are sitting at 58.2%, which is the most productive Zaitsev has ever been as a Leaf.
Which brings us to the overall point, that it seems like Toronto has found the perfect partner for Nikita Zaitsev. For whatever reason, Zaitsev is now playing productive hockey beside Muzzin, getting results he couldn't beside Rielly, Dermott & Hainsey. Though with Gardiner, he's at 52%.
Mirtle states that right now, the Leafs D pairs are optimized, as Rielly-Hainsey are keeping the top competition in check, while Muzzin-Zaitsev and Gardiner-Dermott are dominating the lower competition. However he says, he does wonder how a Gardiner-Hainsey switch would fair.