Alex Kerfoot moved into the top line alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner while the third and fourth lines also saw a different look.
SUMMERLIN, Nev. — In an effort to get a consistent offense going, the Toronto Maple Leafs shuffled up three of their four forward lines at practice on Wednesday.
The biggest change saw Michael Bunting come off of the top line with Alex Kerfoot skating in his place.
Having spent all seven games this season as the team’s third-line center, the versatile Kerfoot will be counted on to help give stars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner a boost.
“We haven’t been scoring and controlling the play the way we’d like,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said.
Matthews sits at one goal through seven games, a career-worst for him to start the season.
Kerfoot is no stranger to playing alongside Matthews and Marner. The trio were reunited when Bunting sustained a lower-body injury toward the end of last season. The trio also skated for Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lighting.
“I don’t want to say he defers but he gets you the puck. We want the puck as much as possible,” Matthews said of Kerfoot. “I just think he does a really good job of getting open. Very smart and very cerebral.”
Although Kerfoot is moving up the lineup, the move is less about rewarding the forward and more focused on adding some offense from the team’s bottom six.
The previous third line of Pierre Engvall, Alex Kerfoot and Calle Jarnkrok have not been a threat to score while on the ice this season. The trio had an expected-goals rate of just eight percent in the team's 3-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.
“I don’t really view it as a promotion,” Kerfoot admitted. “You’re playing with them, but we know we have to play better and I think the whole group needs to play better, so it’s about shaking it up and going from there.”
The Leafs hope that Bunting’s presence on the third line will help Jarnkrok get his game going. Signed to a four-year, $8.4 million contract this summer. The Swede has one goal and one assist in seven games with Toronto. They’ll move him to the middle while the Leafs add Denis Malgin to the line after he sat out of the last three games as a healthy scratch.
“Our puck touches just weren’t very good,” Kerfoot said about his line over the last two games. “Whenever we got into the O-zone, we didn’t generate much.”
Engvall moved down to the fourth line where he was reunited with David Kampf.
Without a point through six games this season, the fourth-line adjustment is one Keefe hopes will allow the Swede to find the same form that allowed him to finish last season with a career-high in goals (15), assists (20) and points (35).
“We were trying to get a little bit more offensively this season with [Engvall], Kerfoot and Jarnkrok, but it hasn’t really connected that way,” Keefe said. “Engvall and Kampf played good minutes for us and tough minutes for us last season. We need to get more out Pierre.”