The Toronto Maple Leafs Second and Third-Line Centre Debate
The Toronto Maple Leafs head into the 2024-25 season with a bit of a question mark at the second line center position which has been owned by John Tavares since he came to the organization in 2018.
Besides the second line center position, there is also the curiosity of who will be in charge of the third line for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the answer for one could lead to solving the second.
The most obvious slotting on the forward lines is that Auston Matthews will be the first line center, but what the league’s most dangerous scorer proved last year is that he doesn’t need to play with superstars to put the puck past the goalie.
With the three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner slotted into the first line center spot, the options for the second line center are Tavares, William Nylander, Max Domi and a new choice in Mitch Marner.
Scenario 1
My top choice that I would like to see would have Matthews at center on the first line being flanked by Domi and Matthew Knies. The two veterans on that line proved that they had a lot of chemistry and almost to a fault where Domi was giving up scoring chances to feed Matthews.
This makes Nylander, Marner and Tavares available to stretch the lineup, and my top choice for a second line would be to to load it up with the trio and give Marner the spot down the middle.
The former London Knight has never played the center position in the NHL, but he could excel with two powerful wingers beside him. The biggest critique of Marner’s game is that he avoids traffic so the move to center could lead to one of two things. One is that Marner is still fearful of the battle in front of the net and downlow in his own end causing a firestorm for his defensemen, but the second could be that it forces him to engage and he realizes he is not as small as he plays and could take his game to the next level.
Tavares could still take the faceoffs until Marner gets more comfortable on the draws and then the captain can move back to the wing. By putting Tavares on the wing this will allow his continued decline in foot speed to be less of an impact on the team and he can use his size and strength along the boards.
With these two lines being top heavy it forces Berube to be creative on the third line and either go with Calle Järnkrok, Pontus Holmberg or David Kämpf at center.
