The Toronto Maple Leafs defensive lineup for game 1 on Friday looks like this:
With the newly found talent of 6 foot 3 inch defenseman, Simon Benoit, the Maple Leafs have been put in an unfortunate situation with 7 defensemen. Morgan Rielly and Jake McCabe were the 'for sures' to make the lineup and both for different reasons. Reilly has proven himself to be a top offensive defenseman talent in the league for years, while McCabe is the teams top workhorse, logging heavy minutes and keeping up in offensive production with a solid 28 points in 73 games this season.
With the mix of inconsistent play on Brodie's end and an abundance of Stanley Cup Playoff experience from Joel Edmunson, the leafs had no choice but to scratch Brodie. It is likely that Brodie will return to the lineup if the game result does not go in favour of the Leafs.
Sourced from: The Hockey Writers - T.J. Brodie Doesn't Make Cut for Maple Leafs First Playoff Game
POLL | ||
19 AVRIL | 308 ANSWERS T.J. Brodie fails to crack playoff lineup vs the Boston Bruins Is scratching Brodie a bad move? | ||
Yes | 114 | 37 % |
No | 194 | 63 % |
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