The Overlooked Issue Since 4 Nations the Leafs Must Fix

Though the Toronto Maple Leafs are having a fair amount of success this season, they don't have the consistency yet that can step up to the bigger teams come playoff time, and a lot of it can be down to their top line.

While the Core Four are certainly putting up points, it's been the John Tavares and William Nylander's tour de force as of late, and while Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are still scoring, they need to do better, along with sophomore power forward Matthew Knies.

The problem hounding the line all season is their inability to produce at 5v5. They aren't scoring a ton like they need to, and are being outscored and have faced some weak opponents as of late; not a good look.

Having the base average 50% xGF is more akin to a third line grinding line than a top powerhouse with your best players. Whether it's splitting up Knies and giving someone like Bobby McMann a shot up top, or let Mitch Marner run his own line.

Here's a potential lineup with a drastic swap:

McMann - Matthews - Domi

Knies - Tavares - Nylander

Robertson - Marner - Laughton

Lorentz - Kampf - Jarnkrok

The first line is able to reunite Max Domi and Auston Matthews who have historically played well together even if they haven't played too much together this year.

Bobby McMann, a 20-goal scorer with blistering speed and grit can play Knies' role with more of a focus on offense and getting chances with outlets from Matthews and Domi, meanwhile Matthews gets a chance to put more pucks on net as the primary option.

Knies slips down to the second line but gets to play with a wildly hot John Tavares and William Nylander, and adding his unique skillset to a line that has been on fire should lead to some great results.

He throws a ton of hits, can get to the net, and with the speed and creativity of both Nylander and Tavares respectively, he's poised to have a ton of chances while still being that impact player.

Mitch Marner, seemingly demoted to third line duties actually gets a chance to lead his own line.

An underrated face-off man (a career 44%), Marner can handle the lessened pressure on the third line, spark some chemistry with Nick Robertson and get him going, plus he gets a secondary defensive machine in Scott Laughton.

For all the criticism of Marner, he's extremely good defensively and a duo of him and Laughton can not only shut opponents down, but overwhelm them offensively too.

The fourth line doesn't change and doesn't need to, as they fulfill their role as gritty and defensively sound forwards who are meant to keep opponents at bay whenever possible.

Is it a perfect solution? No, absolutely not but at the current juncture, they don't have much time to figure it out.

What's the harm in splitting them up and seeing if a brand new look can help settle things down?

It's not like it can get any worse.