Maple Leafs fans cry out to avoid catastrophic lineup change ahead of the playoffs!

Veteran forward Max Pacioretty has not played since February 8th, but many pundits and insiders believe he should be in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ lineup for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, if Pacioretty is inserted back in, that means that Nick Robertson will have to come out, and this created an interesting debate between NHL Analysts Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne, and Sam McKee on Monday.

Kypreos is completely against the idea of removing Robertson from the Leafs’ lineup for the veteran forward, who hasn’t played in months.

“You’re going to plop him in Game One against and Ottawa Senators team that’s going ‘Boom boom’ everyone is flying. You’re chasing Sanderson and Chabot; when I see Nick Robertson playing in both Florida and Tampa Bay, it looks like they are ready to put him in Game One.

“I don’t know what Game Two holds and I love a 23-man roster, you’ll eventually get in. But I am not replacing Nick Robertson with Max Pacioretty.

“I thought maybe there was an opportunity for Max to get back in there, and get some reps in but I think it’s too hard to get him in. Let the series develop, feel it out. If you wanna go heavier, go to him.”

The rebuttal from Bourne came with the Robertson’s stats from last spring’ playoffs.

“But don’t forget, Nick Robertson did play six games last year in the Boston series. Zero, zero, zero…it was zeroes across the board. He’s a dynamic player though, they don’t have much of those.”

While no decision has yet to be made by the Leafs’ coaching staff for what the lineup will be for Game 1, Craig Berube did hint at the idea of having Pacioretty back in uniform against Ottawa. But fans agree with Kypreos and believe replacing Robertson with Pacioretty would be a mistake.

I mean, Pacioretty hasn’t provided much of anything in his 37 games played this season, just five goals and 13 points… Robertson has 15 goals and 22 points in 68 games and his game has become more and more physically as the season unfolded, which will be a crucial element in a series against the Senators.

I believe, like Kypreos and most fans on social media, that the Leafs should roll with their current lineup for the first game, at the very least, before making this kind of changes.

We all know the postseason is all about adjustments and Toronto will evaluate the lineup ahead of every game so Pacioretty could be inserted back in later on in the first round.