Leafs make big lineup changes after shutout loss to Preds

Coach Mike Babcock has seen enough.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Leafs make big lineup changes after shutout loss to Preds
Zuma Press

According to a report from Toronto Maple Leafs insider Kristen Shilton, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock has elected to shake up the team’s power play. 

Early in the season the Leafs boasted one of the NHL’s best power plays, but since November 1st the team ranks 15th overall (18.5 %)with the man advantage. Over the past 15 games, they’ve been even worse with an anemic 11.6% conversion rate. Fair to say that Babcock has seen enough.

“It wasn’t going the way we wanted,” Babcock said of the changes. “When you have a total of one group, you don’t have as much competition on your team. I still like when you have two and you compete to see who’s out there. We’re going to make a change here and see how it goes.”

So… what’s the change? Superstar Auston Matthews gets bumped from his spot on the team’s first PP unit alongside John Tavares and Nazem Kadri in favour of Kasperi Kapanen. So here’s how the two units stack up:

1st PP:
LW - Kapanen / C - Tavares / RW - Kadri
D - Rielly / D - Marner
2nd PP:
LW - Marleau / C - Matthews / RW - Nylander
D - Johnsson / D - Gardiner


The Leafs are in New Jersey to take on the Devils tomorrow evening, so Leafs fans won’t have to wait long to see if this alteration makes a difference.