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The Official 2026-27 Leafs Season Thread: New Regime, Who Dis?

Had an extremely strong suspicion that Roslovic would very quickly become the most annoying and hated player on the roster, and that’s certainly coming true very quickly.
 
And Matthews + Marchenko are so complete that they don't need the kid to be good away from the puck.

Fwiw, I don't hate Roslovic. He's fine, good even for the 3rd line. But he's not a guy that can create and convert chances at a rate you need the Matthews line to be doing that at. He's a 3rd line skill guy, not a top 6 complimentary guy.
 
CH1 said:
Yep. It may seem counter intuitive but the first line would be easier for the kid
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McKenna-Matthews-Marchenko
Cowan-Tavares-Nylander
Paul-Sissons-Roslovic
Groulx-Blueger-Duhaime

Hopefully Miles Wood sorts his shit out and can become useful, I don't like the idea of MacEwen on that 4th line as soon as there's an injury.
 
Beginning of the season is exactly when the blender should be out as you try to optimize line combos, unless you think you're so smart that you happened to land on the perfect lines on attempt #1. Having this crazy patience is going to make it a way bigger thing when the lines are inevitably changed and the media overreaction and noise will take place. It was blatantly obvious by the second game that the second line ain't gonna work, there is no benefit in prolonging this.
 
MindzEye said:
And Matthews + Marchenko are so complete that they don't need the kid to be good away from the puck.

Fwiw, I don't hate Roslovic. He's fine, good even for the 3rd line. But he's not a guy that can create and convert chances at a rate you need the Matthews line to be doing that at. He's a 3rd line skill guy, not a top 6 complimentary guy.
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Yup. The problem we have though is that Cowan is carrying that third line all by himself and we can be sure that Roslovic wouldn’t. We really need one more real scorer that could push Roslovic down to the third line while keeping Cowan there too.
 
Preston said:
Beginning of the season is exactly when the blender should be out as you try to optimize line combos, unless you think you're so smart that you happened to land on the perfect lines on attempt #1. Having this crazy patience is going to make it a way bigger thing when the lines are inevitably changed and the media overreaction and noise will take place. It was blatantly obvious by the second game that the second line ain't gonna work, there is no benefit in prolonging this.
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I think everyone is sleeping on the fact that Matthews has significant influence now on who his linemates will be, and they’re just going to let him have whatever he wants. Before, it was him and Marner joined at the hip. Now he has his old buddy Roslovic and he was a long time admirer of Marchenko, with some accounts after the trade saying that he blessed it in advance. He’s sort of the coach of his line and Hiller gets the other three to play with.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
Yup. The problem we have though is that Cowan is carrying that third line all by himself and we can be sure that Roslovic wouldn’t. We really need one more real scorer that could push Roslovic down to the third line while keeping Cowan there too.
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To be fair, Paul and Eddy have been pretty good on that 3rd line. Cowan is bringing the puck carrying and creation to the line, but I think Roslovic can carry enough of that water in transition for the 3rd line to remain good. Nick Paul was always going to be the difference maker on the 3rd line imo. If he was cooked, it was going to be bad. He appears not cooked and has looked pretty good so far.

Re: Easton...I wonder when Wheeler et all are going to circle around and talk about his hunched over skating style being a negative

1791219422491.png
 
Preston said:
He's much better than your boy Duhaime. Blueger has been very shit too. Too bad, Lorentz was a +++ 4th liner last year.
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I’m still assessing my own gut feeling of Duhaime being good. So far it’s going well. Him and Lorentz on the fourth line would’ve been good.

I have no idea why we paid what we did to get Blueger. Makes zero sense. They gave Groulx his audition last year and should’ve just penciled him in for cheap.

Lorentz Groulx Duhaime would’ve been a good, cheap 4th line.
 
Also, while I'm there:

1791219561417.png

That tracks. Lacks the high end speed to create separation, but he definitely looks like he moves his feet a lot. If this kid can add a step or two as he matures and gets stronger, jebus.
 
A lot of the line-up issues (league-wide) are due to the short preseason IMO, and for some reason the Leafs wanted to be done with theirs in 2 nights without really trying anything out. Especially tough on goalies obviously, but also a real lack of chemistry. I've liked the style of play, and if we can shore up the nerdies this team starting to look and feel more like a Quinn-era team.
 
I wouldn't do it yet because I think being wing is best for his development right now, but if Cowan keeps this shit up, I'd eventually be all for giving him a looksie at center. It's possible he's just temu Marchand or even actual Marchand, but he's got some assets there that could make him a legit C one day. He did it in junior as most NHL forwards do, so it won't be completely foreign to him.

They shouldn't be afraid to try it at some point like they were with Marner. No need to pigeonhole him on the wing permanently.
 
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