Maple Leafs bump Phil Kessel from top line at practice

It would appear that Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle is more proficient with a blender than he is with a toaster oven.

In the wake of a dispiriting shellacking at the hands of the Boston Bruins this weekend, the Toronto Maple Leafs showed off some re-jigged forward lines at practice on Monday:

The big takeaway here is that roommates and super friends Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak have been split up. As Leafs TV broadcaster Paul Hendrick indirectly points out though, it's really just Kessel who appears to have been moved off of Toronto's first line, while David Clarkson skates with his usual running mates in Bozak and James van Riemsdyk.

For the analytically inclined, this series of moves makes some sense. Certainly the Maple Leafs' regular top line has struggled enormously by shot attempt differential, with Kessel ranking last in Corsi For percentage among Maple Leafs forwards who've logged at least 100 minutes this season. 

In contrast, Kessel's probable new center Nazem Kadri is the second best Maple Leafs forward by the shot based metrics in the early going (behind Daniel Winnik). If the Maple Leafs are hoping to control the flow of games a bit better with Kessel on the ice, then giving him an extended look alongside Kadri seems like a sensible experiment.  

There are some red flags though and it's worth pointing out that in the 519 minutes that Kadri and Kessel have spent playing together at even-strength over the past four years, Kadri hasn't had a positive impact on Kessel's possession numbers. Also the Maple Leafs have historically manufactured goals for at a worse rate with Kessel and Kadri together at five-on-five, than they do when Kessel and Bozak share the ice.

(Stats in this piece sourced from stats.hockeyanalysis.com)