Maple Leafs Hint at Lineup Shakeup After Craig Berube's Latest Press Conference

With the Maple Leafs desperate to have any sort of answer for the suddenly potent team that is the Ottawa Senators, a lot of the criticism is directed towards head coach Craig Berube for his inability to properly put together a lineup that can put the puck in the net at a consistent basis.

He strives for hard work, defense and the most unflashy play you'd ever see. Dump and chase, cycle the puck, crash the net. It's an old school method that gave way to Toronto's success this regular season and a heck of a debut for Berube.

However with that improved and focused defense comes some caveats. Mainly, the goal scoring. Once the potent and powerful offense has become a bit weaker for the sake of being more well rounded. Great for 82 games, not so much over a seven game series.

Which is why it isn't too surprising to see that the head coach is potentially looking into a lineup change.

He's considering it, which is at least a step forward compared to the rather stubborn behavior that he's shown when it comes to the lineup in the first five games.

Why David Kampf is being given the shaft when the team needs extra help defensively, or Nick Robertson sitting for a struggling Max Domi or Bobby McMann?

Things worked great for the first three games, and while a lot of that can be credited to their power play, that has suddenly gone ice cold, and there's no reason for it to really happen.

Nothing has changed, so why do they seem less motivated than before? Ottawa didn't wake up a different team, but Toronto is playing like they have and it's costing them.

Perhaps bringing in Kampf and Robertson for McMann and Max Pacioretty (although Domi could use a reset too) could at least give a different look for a game. If the team fails with the current lineup, it's not going to make anything different so why not see what these other guys can do.

The backlash is going to be loud and prominent anyways.