Craig Berube makes surprise change to the Maple Leafs lineup with the absence of John Tavares
Photo credit: The Hockey Writers
The Toronto Maple Leafs saw John Tavares not practice on Saturday due to illness, and it's caused a major shift in their lineup under Craig Berube.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are 1-1-0 early in the 2024/25 season with a tight loss and a big victory thus far, and on Saturday, they've seemingly suffered a major loss with John Tavares not practicing due to an illness.
It's unclear at this point whether or not he'll be on the ice when the team take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday evening, but in practice, we saw some very intriguing lineup changes around the illness. During the day, we saw Pontus Holmberg slide into the 2C role alongside Bobby McMann and William Nylander, and while that's certainly not a long-term solution, it's unlikely that Tavares would miss more than one game, if he even misses one at all.
Beyond that, the lineup remains much the same, with Ryan Reaves slotting in on the fourth line with Tavares' absence, but it's not only this that's changed, as Tavares is a key part of the Maple Leafs powerplay. Unsurprisingly, it's veteran Max Pacioretty that slots in on the top PP, and after one goal through the team's first two games for the former Maple Leafs PTO forward, he is thriving, giving this powerplay confidence even without their former captain.
In years past, this team wouldn't be able to sustain even an injury or an illness over a lengthy period of time, and while Tavares' absence is expected to be short, the team's depth is much improved over recent years, with the team confident they can get over .500 in their home opener in this one.
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