So, pretty much the exact same line up that they have been running out there with Hyman and Mikheyev switching sides.

lol honestly I was switching around the lines so much then I backtracked back to square one and posted it. Oh well.

It'll be interesting to see what line Buffalo tries to send Eichel out against. If they don't send them against Matthews, Matthews and Nylander are going to utterly destroy whoever they play against. If they do, Tavares is going to be taking on effectively 3rd liners. Buffalo's injuries have exposed the supreme lack of depth they have.

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The Leafs should easily win their next 3 games honestly.

I think they should have won a lot of the games they lost this season. They were a much better squad than they looked like under Babs. I think what we are seeing now is closer to what we should be expecting.

Yes, it just seemed that the players didn't play very hard for Babcock. Now they look so much faster, tenacious and energized. Their defence still isn't that good, but Holl, Dermott and Barrie have started to look decent. Do you think a healthy lineup can beat Boston?

Its hard to say, I think against Boston it'll all be the special teams game. I do hope that Keefe puts together a super line to battle teams like Boston. Put Tavares out there with Matthews and Nylander and make the perfection line go toe to toe with TO's best and then hope the depth comes out on top. I think Toronto is deeper in the bottom 9 and has a lot more speed which could be the difference maker if the top lines are equal. Looking at last years playoffs, Babs was the reason TO lost. They were the better team at 5v5 but allowed I think 6 PP goals on 13 attempts or something. Fix the PK and they win. They also had much less depth at centre last year compared to this year and losing Kadri cost them a great deal of flexibility.

I think TO is going to battle with Tampa for 2nd in the division so if we see TO vs Boston in the playoffs again, it'll be in the 2nd round.

I'm thinking to keep the Mikheyev-Tavares-Hyman line to be your matchup line that generates possession and have Matthews-Nylander-Marner.

The two best players on the Leafs are Matthews and Tavares, if you want to go against the perfection line, I think you want to put Matthews and Tavares together. Why I say Nylander instead of Marner is because I think Nylander's ability to gain the zone with control will mean this line will force the perfection line to play defence a tonne and keep them away from our net. Let Marner take Kerfoot and Mikheyev into scoring a tonne. I don't think Hyman or Mikheyev are going to do that well against the perfection line no matter who is centreing them.

Well, the Hyman-Tavares-Marner line did a pretty good job shutting down the Bruins' perfection line at even strength last season, so if you add a guy like Mikheyev who's also tenacious, fast and physical like Hyman plus has better skills, then they might be able to suffocate the Bruins' big 3 and generate a lot of possession, especially with Tavares as their center. I like your idea with Nylander and Tavares together generating possession in the offensive zone, but I'm just not sure if Nylander and Matthews are suited to play a matchup role against the Perfection Line whose main objective is to cycle in the offensive zone and play heavy. They gotta play good defense first if they want to get in the offensive zone, and for me, Nylander and Matthews deserve a role with more freedom. I guess we'll see how Keefe does it when Marner comes back.

That is why you put them with Tavares, give Tavares the harder defensive assignment in the middle and then Nylander and Matthews can do the easier winger defensive work. Plus with that much firepower on the ice, the perfection line will have to be very careful because if they make any mistakes, the transition of Nylander and Matthews will turn things around real quick and they don't give up the puck easy. Plus I like Matthews and Nylander vs Marchand and Pastrnak are a lot closer to being even than Hyman and Mikheyev.

Yes, I don't think the Bruins' top line would be able to handle the speed of Matthews and Nylander as they move in transition, though there's no doubt the Bruins' forwards are very defensively responsible. If Marner plays with Kerfoot and Mikheyev, where do you want Hyman playing? The fourth line?