Toronto Maple Leafs Mitchell Marner and Auston Matthews skate against the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, on Nov. 11.Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs return home on Tuesday for the first time since Nov. 11 and things are not going as well as expected.
A sign of that is the line shuffling that took place during practice on Monday. In a move akin to the shifting of tectonic plates, Mitch Marner was dropped from the first line beside Auston Matthews to the second, and William Nylander was promoted to the first.
Matthews has scored just once and recorded two assists in the past seven games. During that same span, Marner hasn’t scored at all and has just three assists.
Neither rank in the top 30 in the league in points ahead of the Leafs’ engagement Tuesday with the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena.
“We have been talking a lot about that first line and there has been a great reluctance on my part to make a change,” Sheldon Keefe, the Toronto coach, said after drills at the Ford Performance Centre in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke. “You don’t want to affect guys who are rolling and feel good in order to boost other groups but I think the time is right.
“Auston and Mitch’s line has been kind of up and down. They have had really good nights and others where they haven’t been effective at all, so I am just trying to find more consistency there.”
Matthews had 13 goals in the first dozen games and is stuck at 14 at the present. Marner has five and 15 assists – not terrible but not what is expected from such a dynamic player.
Everyone involved did their best to talk around the change like it is no big deal but it is certainly noteworthy.
The Maple Leafs lost in overtime in Chicago on Friday and were edged in Pittsburgh 3-2 on Saturday in the second of their first back-to-back of the season.
This week they are at home three times – again on Thursday versus the Seattle Kraken and on Saturday against the Boston Bruins. Toronto is 10-6-3 but were fifth as of Monday in the Atlantic Division behind Boston, Florida, the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bruins are far ahead but the standings are tight enough after that that a loss or two is significant. It is safe to say Toronto is not where it wants to be as it heads into its 20th game.
“The way the weekend went, I don’t think to mix things up is the worst thing,” Matthews said. “There is definitely a lot of room for improvement. I don’t think we have reached the level of play that we believe we are capable of.”
So Nylander, who has been Toronto’s best all-round skater so far, is now on the first line with Matthews and Matthew Knies. And Marner finds himself with Tyler Bertuzzi and John Tavares.
“Mitch is just not executing at the level you expect from him,” Keefe said. “At times he has had it, but there is no doubt he hasn’t found his groove yet.”
Marner, for one, wouldn’t argue.
“My game isn’t as good as it usually is and where I like it,” the fleet winger said.
All is not bad on the team, however. The defensive corps has been better recently and the goaltenders have been decent. It is the offence that has suffered.
“Auston and Mitch are not making plays,” Keefe said in a more critical evaluation than normal. “Pucks are just dying on their sticks. That’s a big part of it. A game like the other night certainly caught my attention more than I would like.”
So the lines are changed and the club’s top two stars have been separated, at least for the time being. We will see if that is a temporary move or something more permanent.
Keefe hopes for the better.
“When they have been challenged before, they have responded,” he said.