Jim Hiller makes a stunning lineup decision in the wake of Kirill Marchenko's injury

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a new look up front as Jim Hiller decided to give Gavin McKenna a shot in the wake of Kirill Marchenko's injury.

As the Maple Leafs announced that they would be without Kirill Marchenko as is he week-to-week with a lower-body injury, that meant the speculation about who would take his place began.

He's a very hard player to replace, and right now the Maple Leafs don't have that same driving offensive force without him in the lineup and it's made Jim Hiller decide to really try and spark things up front ahead of their late-game clash against Seattle.

McKenna earns Marchenko's top-six role and even gets first-line billing

During Wednesday's practice, the Maple Leafs didn't have Easton Cowan alongside Auston Matthews up front, but instead decided to give those duties to the 18-year-old rookie, Gavin McKenna:

McKenna - Matthews - Roslovic
Cowan - Paul - Nylander
Groulx - Sissons - Lettieri
Duhaime - Blueger - MacEwen

McCabe - Raddysh
Rielly - Stecher
Mermis - Ekman-Larsson

Bobrovsky
Stolarz

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While it may seem odd to get rid of Cowan on that first line, you lose a lot of forechecking and offensive potential with Marchenko out, and the Maple Leafs needed a better play driver for William Nylander and Nick Paul.

McKenna has familiarity working with Matthews on the power-play, and Hiller is hoping that he can spark some offense out of the young phenom. Matthews and McKenna have shown great chemistry, it's just injuries have necessitated separating them.

It's time for Gavin McKenna to prove everyone why he's a star in the making

But now is the time for McKenna to step up. He's been toiling on the third line while Cowan and Marchenko have been driving things up top, and it seems like Hiller wants to give him every chance to thrive.

One issue that has to be kept an eye on is how that is going to work defensively. The goal this year was to get Auston Matthews players who can ease those burdensome minutes off him, and McKenna has to be on his toes all night.

he can't get caught slacking, he can't deflect responsibility to Matthews, and all credit to Jack Roslovic - he's not exactly Patrice Bergeron.

Hiller is trusting that McKenna can play a well-rounded game at both ends of the ice, and hopefully for Toronto his gamble pays off against Seattle.

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