After a summer of wondering what Craig Berube will do when it comes to defence pairings, answers have finally been provided(-ish). Well…I guess the Rielly and Tanev pairing was spoiled by Chris Tanev back in July when he shared that playing with Rielly was one of the selling points for him becoming a Leaf, but finding out how Oliver Ekman-Larsson would change things up and how Craig Berube would deploy the existing personnel was completely up in the air. Thursday some early answers (save for what happens when Jani Hakanpaa is ready to join the top groups and Benoit returns to camp.)
Maple Leafs training camp groups. And to little surprise, Auston Matthews looks like the best goal scorer in the world this morning. pic.twitter.com/kLKbmpHNh1
— Arun Srinivasan (@Arunthings) September 19, 2024
Here’s the breakdown of the pairings based on the different sessions on Thursday:
Group 1
Rielly – Tanev
As I mentioned above this was always the plan. Morgan Rielly thrived when having TJ Brodie at his best and finding another top tier defenceman for Rielly to play against was the priority this off season.
Tanev also brings a lot of the qualities that allow Rielly to be Rielly. Morgan isn’t who want defending during an odd man rush, being in front of the goaltender in the defensive zone, or generally being the primary decision maker when the Leafs don’t have the puck. Chris Tanev is that guy and in a perfect world this duo will be pushing 30 minutes a night in the playoffs.
Chadwick – Timmins
This duo was interesting because on the surface it looks like Conor Timmins is very much being relegated to the Marlies as he is being tasked with playing with an up and coming prospect. In reality, this could probably a nice Day 1 promotion for Noah Chadwick as Simon Benoit is away for the birth of his child.
Benoit and Timmins make sense as the 7/8 guys on the Leafs and depending on whether the situation calls for a physical option or a puck mover, Berube would insert his best option into the lineup. Compared to a lot of previous Leafs bluelines this would have been a perfectly acceptable bottom pairing but it’s probably best they are the first round of depth.
That being said, there are spots in Group 2 where Benoit could also appear. This might be Conor Timmins being a tough fit for the Leafs lineup and the Leafs seeing the best use of him at this time being the means to give Chadwick the best chance to show what he can do during his limited run before returning to junior.
Mermis – Myers
This duo will likely be the Marlie minute eaters. While it is likely that John Gruden will have his own plans for who plays together and he might choose to have developing defencemen playing with these veterans, for Berube’s purposes this pair can eat a ton of preseason minutes.
Rifai – Villeneuve
Another Marlies pairing, but one that strongly points to the desire to keep a stay-at-home guy with a puck mover.
Group 2
Ekman-Larsson – McCabe
This might just be a temporary thing as Craig Berube might see value in what worked for Sheldon Keefe last year with Simon Benoit and Jake McCabe playing together. With Jake McCabe potentially having to take on fewer tough assignments in 2024-25, there might not be a need to disrupt what was working.
That said, from a strictly depth chart perspective, Ekman-Larsson and McCabe seem to be the 3rd and 4th defencemen for the Maple Leafs and seeing what they can do together wouldn’t hurt even if plans are to realign the pairings when Benoit returns to training camp.
In theory this pairing is a good all situations fit and while they might not be the ideal matchup against top competition, there isn’t a need to rush them off the ice. In a world of shortened benches and with the number of injuries that will occur in an 82 game season it is a safe bet this two will play together at some point over the year and taking an opportunity to see if this works now, makes sense.
Webber – Liljegren
The Leafs seem incredibly high on Webber. I’m not sure whether the rest of us have seen enough of him beyond a positive rookie camp to know what he is, but Treliving wants towers on the blueline and Webber is that. He also allows for consistency in putting a stay-at-home guy with a puck mover.
Webber could also potentially be a placeholder for Benoit (or Ekman-Larsson if the plan is for a Swedish pairing of OEL and Liljegren.) If Webber is placeholding it will be interesting to see where pops up next, the most likely scenario is Pietroniro finds himself moving to Group Three.
From a Liljegren perspective, this doesn’t look great, but despite what you think of how Sheldon Keefe deployed him, the onus should still be on Liljegren to prove why he deserves more responsibility than he’s received to date.
Kokkonen – Niemela
Both Kokkonen and Niemela have the potential to surprise in training camp and make decisions tough for Craig Berube and Brad Treliving. The Finnish duo played together at times for the Marlies last season and Kokkonen looked like a tough cut after last year’s training camp.
Niemela had an outstanding rookie camp and hopefully he’ll get a chance to build on it in the preseason.
Pietroniro – Mattinen
I’m sure they are nice guys and they certainly offer encouragement that the Marlies will have a deeper blueline this season, but they aren’t really factors from the Leafs perspective.
Group 3
The third group isn’t really consequential as the session is filled with AHL contracts and players that will soon be returning to their junior teams. The key player here is Jani Hakanpaa and his path into the earlier sessions as his health improves.
The main takeaway from the first on ice defence pairings is that Craig Berube and Mike Van Ryn have prioritized having puck mover and positional defenders together more than necessarily zeroing in on what could be NHL defence pairings in the regular season. All of these pairings look like reasonable options for early preseason games, but the Webber-Liljegren pairing, Chadwick-Timmins pairing, and eventual additions of Simon Benoit and Jani Hakanpaa are explanation points on the fact that nothing looks locked in besides Rielly and Tanev.
