With John Tavares out for the next few weeks, the Maple Leafs have a brand-new lineup from Jim Hiller that is hoping to steady the waters while #91 is out.
There was some truly unfortunate news for the Maple Leafs on Saturday as they announced that veteran centre John Tavares would be out for the next several weeks with a lower-body injury suffered during Toronto's game vs. the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
It's a terrible turn of events for a player who has been not only highly beloved and respected, but extremely durable and someone who rarely misses time. But with him nursing an injury and his age factoring into things as well, it'll likely be towards the end of November when we see him return.
Maple Leafs unveil new lineup after John Tavares injury news
In that case, the team is going to need to make some changes to the lineup, and while they were familiar with a Tavares absence due to the birth of his child, this one is more of a long-term situation.
Practice ahead of Saturday's game vs. the New York Islanders certainly had some changes, and it did look a bit familiar to the lineup we saw against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night:
Roslovic - Matthews - Nylander
Cowan - Paul - Marchenko
McKenna - Sissons - Groulx
Duhaime - Blueger - MacEwen
McCabe - Raddysh
Rielly - Stecher
Ekman-Larsson - Blankenburg
Bobrovsky
Stolarz
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Nick Paul once again takes the reigns at the 2C while Tavares is out, and with the play-driving of Marchenko and the chemistry alongside Cowan, there could be some underrated offense - plus Paul is a former 20-goal scorer, he can contribute.
Bo Groulx finds himself in the lineup again and bumped to the third line as the team tries to get him going, and perhaps the Wizard of Whitehorse can be the one to spark his scoring touch.
The first and fourth lines remain unchanged, as the combination of Nylander and Matthews has been fantastic so far, and the fourth line - while offensively anemic - has been great at shutting things down.
The PP gets a makeover too, as McKenna takes over Tavares' spot which will end up delighting the majority of the Maple Leafs fanbase:
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What to watch for during Toronto's game vs. New York
First and foremost, we'll need to see how the team works without Tavares both on and off the ice, as he is a huge locker room leader and someone who was a catalyst for Toronto's offense this season.
In correlation to that, we'll also have to keep a keen eye on Jim Hiller and his management of Gavin McKenna after a benching against the Sabres that drew a ton of criticism. If Toronto jumps out to a big lead early, take a look at the bench and track McKenna's shifts - it may not be many.
Or maybe he learned his lesson, much like the rest of the team and they will come out swinging against the Islanders and not let up. If they blow another multi-goal lead, then there has to be concerns that either Hiller's system or his personnel aren't the right fit.
But we won't know until the puck drops on Saturday night.
Do you think Toronto's lineup is good enough to compete while John Tavares is out with an injury?
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