Sheldon Keefe makes major changes to his lines on Saturday.
The head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs will be going with a drastically different look against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe has thrown his lines into a blender this evening, although it's really no fault of his own.
The Maple Leafs' forward group has been hit with a pair of rather significant injuries over the past several days with both Mitch Marner and Calle Jarnkrok sidelined due to injuries. Marner has missed a number of games already with what is believed to be a high ankle sprain while Jarnkrok injured his hand against the Philadelphia Flyers earlier this week, forcing Keefe to shuffle things up front.
The bad news for the Maple Leafs means good news for forward Nicholas Robertson who will get another chance in the lineup after being demoted to the American Hockey League after the National Hockey League's trade deadline. Robertson, who has yet to play a game in the month of March, is no doubt excited to get back in the lineup in spite of the fact that it has come at the expense of his teammates.
Pontus Holmberg will be on the team's top line tonight alongside Auston Matthews and Tyler Bertuzzi, while Bobby McMann will move up to the second line to slot in alongside Max Domi and William Nylander. The returning Robertson will play alongside John Tavares and Matthew Knies, with Connor Dewar, David Kampf and Noah Gregor rounding out the bottom six.
Here's a look at the full projected lineup for tonight's clash against the Carolina Hurricanes:
Bertuzzi - Matthews - Holmberg
McMann - Domi - Nylander
Knies - Tavares - Robertson
Dewar - Kampf - Gregor
Brodie - McCabe
Rielly - Lyubushkin
Edmundson - Liljegren
Samsonov