During the next several weeks, one of the Toronto Maple Leafs priorities should be to get Auston Matthews onto a line that actually helps him.
The current line of Patrick Marleau, Auston Matthews and Kasperi Kapanen is terrible. Not only are there better options for Matthews’ linemates, but additionally, neither Kapanen or Marleau are top line players.
Given that the Leafs have two elite right-wingers in Mitch Marner and William Nylander, it doesn’t make any sense for Kapanen to be on the top line. As for Marleau, you could make a pretty good argument that his beset position at this point would be assistant coach, but at the very least he shouldn’t be any higher than the third line.