Potential NEW Leafs Line up:

[JT AM da real deal]

Bunting - Matthews - Marner
Tavares - O'Rielly - Nylander
Kerfoot - Acciari - Jarnkrok
AstonReese - Kampf - Lafferty

McCabe - Brodie
Giordano - Holl
Rielly - Schenn

This is da betting fav for Keefer's opening night lineup .. and quite frankly it will be enough .. and I am not sure how much tinkering really needs to be done with forwards anywho .. this leaves Matty straight up against Point which should wash .. ROR will destroy Cirelli .. Acciari can hold serve against Paul .. and our energy line will destroy Tampa's 4th .. up front we will grit grinder Tampa I am sure .. i would swop Willy and Jarnkrok .. and move up Lafferty to C with Willy and Kerfoot (Lafferty is faster) which should unleash Willy with Kerfoot .. but that is only fine tuning .. either way it does not matter

 

[ToDavid]

If Knies takes a spot, this would be my forward lineup.

Jarnkrok-Matthews-Marner
Knies-Tavares-Nylander
Bunting-O'Reilly-Kerfoot
ZAR-Kampf-Acciari

If not, then I'm leaning more toward stacking Tavares and O'Reilly on one line, but I'm sure we'll see both depending on the situation.

On D the only question is Lily vs. Schenn. Both have qualities. I'm leaning Schenn (a position I didn't expect myself to be in). While I think Lily is the better player, the things he's good at the team has in spades. The things Schenn is good at, we don't. Actual pairings will probably be situational. I think you run Rielly-Brodie and McCabe-Holl or Schenn most of the time and stack McCabe-Brodie when you need to defend.

 

[ZEBROA]

Tavares got the primary assist on Jarnkrok's goal, on a pass from Willie.

It is a bigger chance for nylander to get a point playing pp without marner matthews when he is forced to be more involved.

Will has better flow with ROR and without Tavares. Thats not a blow on Tavares. Nylander and Tavares just aint the best styles to play together.

Maby Tavares becomes better without Nylander. So it would be a win win to keep them apart, exept pp. A 1st marner/matthews pp and a second nylander/tavares could work.

 

[ZEBROA]

Tavares - Matthews - Marner
Knies-ROR-Nylander

Would that not make both Nylander and Tavares fans happy.

And leaf fans, we cant possible loose with all 11mill players on the same line. If they cant win against the best who can?

 

[kb]

Not sure Knies has done enough to be in the opening night playoff lineup. Kids done really well and I really like the idea of a Knies - O’Reilly - Nylander line but the playoffs are a whole other level.

Why? The Leafs need what he brings, and he looked fine in a playoff style game against the very team they will be playing in round 1.

Without a single practice yet with his new team. That's something that even vets would struggle with.

Trust your eyes, not the pundits.

 

[ACC1224]

Not sure Knies has done enough to be in the opening night playoff lineup. Kids done really well and I really like the idea of a Knies - O’Reilly - Nylander line but the playoffs are a whole other level.

Yeah I think he will be an healthy scratch/injury replacement to start.
When healthy who's spot in the lineup does he take?

 

[LeafSteel]

Playoff Forwards for a fully healthy roster (fingers crosse):

Nylander-Matthews-Jarnkrok
Knies-Tavares-Marner
Bunting-ROR-Acciari
Zar-Kampf-Lafferty
Kerfoot

1st line: draws either Tampa's top line or their top checking line. They can score and they can defend. They have chemistry and Nylander when playing with Matthews is awesome.

2nd line: ambitious to have Knies on the 2nd line, but expect this line to be spared matching up against Tampa's top line/defence, and they should feast on their matchup. Great opportunity for Knies, to play with a veteran like Tavares and a wizard in Marner. They will give him room.

3rd line: top checking line and a nightmare for Tampa's top line to deal with. They will hit you, hurt you, annoy the crap out of you, and will score on you too.

4th line: This line has come on strong lately. Hard to play against, won't be a liability to play, will bring a high energy defensively sound game that will also pot a goal or two purely off of their hard work.

Great roster, we just need Keefe not to !uck it up........

This is my starting roster and I'm sticking with it!

Kerfoot slots in case of injuries or Knies or anyone in the bottom 6 not feeling/bringing it.

 

[ACC1224]

This is my starting roster and I'm sticking with it!

Kerfoot slots in case of injuries or Knies or anyone in the bottom 6 not feeling/bringing it.

I would put the odds of Kerfoot not dressing at around 0.

 

[DarkKnight]

Keefe has admitted he doesn’t trust JT and Nylander defensively, so I don’t understand why he’d stay married to the duo come playoffs, especially when we finally have decent depth.

My hunch is Knies sits.

Schenn is a shoe in now imo.

 

[LeafSteel]

I would put the odds of Kerfoot not dressing at around 0.

I agree, and tbh, I like a lot of what Kerfoot brings, which I find myself shocked to say considering how badly I wanted him moved at the TDL.

I originally was having him take Lafferty's place, but that line has clicked recently, putting up points, and Lafferty is showing playoff toughness that Kerfoot can't provide.

Interesting to see how things shake out, and as long as we beat the Tampa Bay Imitators, I'm good with it.

 

[Duffman955]

The lightning lineup is extremely top heavy.

I'd like to go with ROR as a shutdown C against their top line.

Then run 3 scoring lines.

 

[IPS]

Keefe has admitted he doesn’t trust JT and Nylander defensively, so I don’t understand why he’d stay married to the duo come playoffs, especially when we finally have decent depth.

My hunch is Knies sits.

Schenn is a shoe in now imo.

Schenn does seem like a shoe in. At the expense of who is the question.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Tavares is right in view for the first one, with him and Jarnkrok open on the other side of the ice, drawing attention from Vasilevsky.
The second one Tavares works in front of the net and gets the primary assist with a quick pass to Jarnkrok. Not sure how lobbing a weak shot to the net is "doing all the work".
All your Tavares undervaluing aside, fact is that 2 of the 3 goals were scored with Tavares and Nylander together.

If you look really hard you can see JT just coming into the far faceoff circle as the puck goes in the net.

Moving the puck around with ROR and Jarnkrok until he gets a good shot at the net with JT screening, which is my point, which you missed as usual.

I'm sure you also didn't notice that at even strength Willy was dominant, stole the puck to set up Knies, and was +1, while JT was -1 and it was his man who scored their first.

 

[Puckstuff]

Tavares - Matthews - Marner
Knies-ROR-Nylander

Would that not make both Nylander and Tavares fans happy.

And leaf fans, we cant possible loose with all 11mill players on the same line. If they cant win against the best who can?

That's actually a pretty interesting idea, but what about the 3rd line?

 

[Phion Keneuf]

That's actually a pretty interesting idea, but what about the 3rd line?

Bunting-Acciari-Jarnkrok maybe?

Honestly not a bad 3rd line if we stack the top 6.

 

[Puckstuff]

Bunting-Acciari-Jarnkrok maybe?

Honestly not a bad 3rd line if we stack the top 6.

Not bad, that could work. 1 game to figure it out!

 

[Dekes For Days]

If you look really hard you can see JT just coming into the far faceoff circle as the puck goes in the net.
Moving the puck around with ROR and Jarnkrok until he gets a good shot at the net with JT screening, which is my point, which you missed as usual.
I'm sure you also didn't notice that at even strength Willy was dominant, stole the puck to set up Knies, and was +1, while JT was -1 and it was his man who scored their first.

I didn't miss anything. Apparently you missed Tavares smack dab in the middle of the screen on the first goal, and Tavares setting up the 2nd goal, leading to you trying to represent Nylander's offense as being a result of "separating Tavares and Willy", even though 2 of the 3 goals were scored with them together. Maybe your PVR messed up again? I also noticed them both having pretty good games outside of that.

 

[notDatsyuk]

I didn't miss anything. Apparently you missed Tavares smack dab in the middle of the screen on the first goal, and Tavares setting up the 2nd goal, leading to you trying to represent Nylander's offense as being a result of "separating Tavares and Willy", even though 2 of the 3 goals were scored with them together. Maybe your PVR messed up again? I also noticed them both having pretty good games outside of that.

You can certainly see things that nobody else can, and yet still completely miss the point.

By now I have to assume it's deliberate.

 

[DarkKnight]

Schenn does seem like a shoe in. At the expense of who is the question.

No merit based, but have to think it’s Lil the way Keefe has been using them.

 

[ZEBROA]

I didn't miss anything. Apparently you missed Tavares smack dab in the middle of the screen on the first goal, and Tavares setting up the 2nd goal, leading to you trying to represent Nylander's offense as being a result of "separating Tavares and Willy", even though 2 of the 3 goals were scored with them together. Maybe your PVR messed up again? I also noticed them both having pretty good games outside of that.

Nylander is playing better without Tavares on his side. Their styles dont gel. PP Is way different then 5v5. He would had a bigger chance at getting to 90p on a third line then with Tavares the last 15games or so.

 

[Dekes For Days]

You can certainly see things that nobody else can, and yet still completely miss the point.

The point wasn't missed. Your point just fell flat, because you tried to prove it by misrepresenting what happened, even though we all saw it.
Funny enough, you ended up supporting the opposite of your point.

Nylander is playing better without Tavares on his side. Their styles dont gel.

Their styles don't gel particularly well, but it tends to get wildly exaggerated, and the fact is that he doesn't gel particularly well with Matthews either. And it's more important that Matthews isn't bogged down playing defense for him.

If you want to argue that Nylander and Tavares should be apart, then go nuts! However, trying to argue that Nylander and Tavares should be apart and doing it by pointing to Nylander's offense in a game where the majority of that offense was generated while with Tavares? Really weird.

 

[ZEBROA]

The point wasn't missed. Your point just fell flat, because you tried to prove it by misrepresenting what happened, even though we all saw it.
Funny enough, you ended up supporting the opposite of your point.

Their styles don't gel particularly well, but it tends to get wildly exaggerated, and the fact is that he doesn't gel particularly well with Matthews either. And it's more important that Matthews isn't bogged down playing defense for him.

If you want to argue that Nylander and Tavares should be apart, then go nuts! However, trying to argue that Nylander and Tavares should be apart and doing it by pointing to Nylander's offense in a game where the majority of that offense was generated while with Tavares? Really weird.

I think he gel a lot better with Matthews . But a healthy Matthew that is.

 

[TMLAM34]

Schenn does seem like a shoe in. At the expense of who is the question.

Probably Liljegren unfortunately.

 

[TMLAM34]

Tavares - Matthews - Marner
Knies - O’Reilly - Nylander

That would be interesting, but very doubtful with only one regular season game to go.

 

[Macallan18]

Knies over Lafferty.
Lafferty does too good an imitation of Engvall for my taste. I know he had one good game, so what?
Knies is a different order of skill.