He's slow and his line is getting caved. Father time catches up with everybody and I'd rather be proactive about that. I want the team to be as good as it can be and so at least experimenting with JT on the wing I think isn't a bad idea.
I'm not sure about that "He's slow"
Fairly recently, someone in the media got skating ice times from Leafs training camp. Happened at least twice in recent years
Tavares as I recall was in the upper half of the team in speed.
Last season, I looked at all the skating speeds of Leafs and Marlies on NHL Edge going back 3 years
Tavares was ~15th out of 38 in skating speed.
In preseason, I commented in the game day threads about a couple of good bursts of speed from Tavares - I'm sure I was not the only one who saw it. I felt reassured from what I watched that he wasn't a slug yet - I was looking for it.
This season, after 2 games, I looked at the Leafs on NHL Edge
Tavares is 12th out of 21 in skating speed. (They're mostly all slower than prior seasons - probably because of the small sample size. And it may have accuracy limits as Cowan was one of the slowest last season but the fastest so far this season)
Tavares with Marner was +28 but a minus with Nylander
There are two things Tavares does better than most if not all on this roster:
win faceoffs and park his butt in front of the net and produce in that area of the ice
Unlike his common linemate, he makes an intelligent determined effort defensively.
He's currently playing with one winger who is determined to provide most of his effort in his NHL career on just 100 feet of ice and a lightweight 18 year old who is confronting a significant challenge trying to play in the league. So yeah, "their line is getting caved" but I don't think it is all on Tavares. We've only played two games ...
I'm not saying there are no other line combinations that might be better.
I'd just be careful messing with what Tavares brings to every game.
If he is or was struggling, it was a short preseason. Give it a little time as we should for McKenna.
