These are the perfect Toronto Maple Leafs forward lines
Tyler Bertuzzi – Auston Matthews – Mitch Marner
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ top line could be one of the best in the NHL.
Auston Matthews is the best player on the team. He is also one of the three best players in the National Hockey League in most years. Whatever line he is centering should be considered the top line that gets the most minutes and attention.
Mitch Marner is one of the best wingers that the game has to offer. He is incredibly responsible defensively and is just about to become a 100-point player. Putting these two together should be automatic as they are both supremely gifted and have tons of chemistry.
The third guy on the line is Tyler Bertuzzi. He will be the right wing that brings some sandpaper to this line. He also has tons of skill and will create more room out there for his even more skilled linemates.
He can win puck battles down low and go to the front of the net which will help Matthews and Marner do their thing even better. You might remember when Zach Hyman was with the Leafs, Bertuzzi can bring them an even better version of that.
Matthew Knies – William Nylander – Max Domi
The Toronto Maple Leafs are trying something different with their lines.
The word out of training camp so far is that William Nylander is coming in as a centerman again. That is not something that the Leafs have done in a long time. He has almost exclusively been a winger since the team started to get good and he was amazing at it.
Nylander had an incredible year in 2022-23 and he is expected to pick up right where he left off once things get going again. Now, as a center, he would look great with Matthew Knies and Max Domi on his wings.
Of course, both of these guys bring a ton of skill. Knies was with the University of Minnesota last season and he was incredible. Right when his season was done, he joined the Leafs and played with them heading into the playoffs. Now, he should get a full-time role.
Max Domi was brought in as a free agent after some really great play split between the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars last year. It revived his career and now he is with his dad’s old team in Toronto. This line could be amazing with Nylander driving it down the middle.
Nicholas Robertson – John Tavares – Sam Lafferty
The Toronto Maple Leafs could have the best third line of this era right now.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have always had an amazing top-six. Now, however, they could have an elite top nine that can be put up against anyone in the league. With Nylander jumping back into the center role, that could push John Tavares into a third-line center role.
If you have a player as good as Tavares on that line, they could be a truly elite team. He used to be the best or second-best player on the team but he has slowly started to regress so having him as the third-line center is great.
With wingers like Nicholas Robertson and Sam Lafferty, it could be a very productive line. Those guys know how to score and play the game the right way. With a centerman like Tavares driving the line, you might see even more production out of them both.
This is a better idea than having Tavares transition into a wing because he still has plenty of good hockey to give as a center. Having more depth isn’t a knock on Tavares, it is a way to possibly get to the Eastern Conference Finals for once.
Calle Jarnkrok – David Kampf – Ryan Reaves
The Toronto Maple Leafs need a good fourth line to complement the top nine.
The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t need this extravagant fourth line. They just need a trio that can play about ten minutes a game and play the game the right way. Their top nine is so loaded that they are going to carry the play on most nights.
However, the Leafs needed some toughness in their group for a long time. They always seemed easy to play against in terms of physicality. Well, the goal was clearly for that to change starting this season.
Domi and Bertuzzi will help. Those guys, as mentioned before, are great because they can score a lot as well. Now, the fourth line is also there to be the punishing group of the Maple Leafs team. Nobody will want to take their liberties against the Leafs’ stars with this group.
Ryan Reaves is a new addition to the team and he is known as one of the best tough guys in the NHL. Playing with David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok is going to be the way to do things for this Leafs team to start the season. It will be a very good fourth line.
This forward top-12 should be very fun to watch on most nights. They just need to get through the regular season healthy and they will thrive. There is a lot of skill, physicality, and tenacity in these lines. Expect the Leafs to run the Atlantic Division led by their forwards.
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