Toronto Maple Leafs: 4 storylines to watch during training camp

Who plays with Tavares with Hyman out and Marner not around?

The Leafs got some unfortunate news at the end of the season when Zach Hyman and Travis Dermott suffering serious injuries that will force them to miss the start of the season.

Add that to Marner potentially not being around and Babcock will have to decide how he wants to approach his lineup. Who does he have playing with John Tavares and does that impact things when Hyman and Marner return?

The obvious answer would be to have Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen move up to play with Tavares considering how they played with Auston Matthews last season. Now, Babcock could look at players like Ilya Mikheyev, Alexander Kerfoot, Trevor Moore as potential options too but it makes more sense to have Johnsson and Kapanen paired together and be able to move up and down the lineup.

That could also change if the Babcock decides to play Johnsson with Matthews and William Nylander. Regardless, you know Babcock has spent time jotting down various lineup combination so he might have to do some tinkering.