William Nylander given offensive freedom with Leafs line changes

William Nylander has been partnered with David Kampf and Alexander Kerfoot on a new-look Maple Leafs third line. With Kampf and Kerfoot being more defensive minded players, Nylander should have more offensive freedom in what has already been a very productive season for the Swede.

Video Transcript

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TICTACTOMAR: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of "In the Mentions." I'm TicTacTOmar. And if you haven't noticed there are new lines in the Leafs organization right now. Each actually kind of have its own special thing. I think for the first time we're actually seeing Matthews, Marner, and Nylander all on their own line, all giving them the opportunity to drive said line, which on one hand spreads out the offense pretty well, but also could actually create a lot of special things and special opportunities for the lineup.

You know, the Matthews, Kase, and Bunting line actually worked out pretty well. They had that really crazy behind-- you know, ball below the goal line passing play from Kase to Bunting to Matthews for a goal there. Tavares and Marner have worked out for a long time. And Ilya Mikheyev was just scoring left and right anyway.

Now Nylander with Kerfoot and Kampf, that's a completely new line that also has a lot of potential to it. Now when you look at David Kampf, who again is the defense specialist and the only time he scores goals, if it's by accident or if a goalie makes a mistake, no offense to David Kampf. But he's not necessarily known as an offensive guy. Whereas Kerfoot has been a great defensive player and has been able to put up a couple of assists here and there.

Now I think this could be very interesting because if you have a situation with Kerfoot and Kampf who are just focused on defense, that could leave William Nylander to just be a purely offensive-minded person. And again, he has been given more defensive responsibilities this season, getting some time on the penalty kill. But it could be a really interesting opportunity for William Nylander to even produce even more than he already has this year.

Now the thing that stands out to me, aside from the top three lines, is the fourth line, with Pierre Engvall being knocked down to the fourth line with Jason Spezza and Wayne Simmonds. I think this is a move that definitely needed to happen.

You know, aside from the recent game where Wayne Simmonds was really powering through St Louis players and jamming wraparounds, we haven't necessarily noticed the fourth line enough, especially Spezza, who has been a huge veteran presence as far as, you know, fake slap shots and stuff. But I think if you're bring Engvall down to the fourth line and you have another skilled player who can skate, that can kind of resonate off Spezza a lot. So maybe this is the beginning of a new level of domination for the Leafs. I mean, as long as they hold on to a 3-1 lead they should be fine.