On Saturday night in Detroit, the Leafs won a game almost entirely because of their depth forwards. This is not something we expected coming into the year. The Leafs under-invest in their bottom six, simply because of the fact that they invest so heavily in their top forwards. Cuts have to come from somewhere, and Kyle Dubas has made the conscious decision for those to come at the expense of the Leafs depth forwards.
So was that win a one-off, or has the expensive upper end of the Leafs lineup failed to deliver?
There is now a microscope on the quartet of John Tavares, Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, and William Nylander.