Jim Hiller released his Monday lines and McKenna is skating right next to Tavares.
That's not a throwaway pairing. Second line, right between Tavares and Nylander, is real estate that gets earned, not handed out.
Toronto is off to a rocky start under its new coach. The Leafs dropped their last outing 4-3 in overtime on the road against Montreal.
That loss left them at L2 on the young season, with an 0-1-1 mark over their last two games.
Hiller's group gets another crack at it Wednesday, hosting Ottawa at home. Plenty of time to see if this line sticks.
The top six now reads Knies-Matthews-Roslovic up front, with McKenna-Tavares-Nylander right behind. Auston Matthews, still centering that first unit, carries a cap hit of $13,250,000, seventh highest in the entire NHL.
Pairing a newcomer with that kind of money on the wing isn't a subtle move. It's a signal.
Why Hiller's blue line shuffle matters just as much
The back end got reshuffled too. Rielly and Raddysh are paired up top, followed by McCabe-Tanev, OEL-Stecher and Andrae-Blankenburg rounding out the six.
Bobrovsky gets the crease with Stolarz behind him. Nothing shocking there, but every other spot on this sheet has movement written all over it.
Four lines deep, Toronto also dressed a Paul-Sissons-Cowan trio and a Lorentz-Blueger-Duhaime unit, with Groulx as the extra forward.
That's a coach still figuring out his identity two games into the job. Hiller was only hired in June, and this roster is his first real chance to stamp it.
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Sliding McKenna into a scoring role next to a proven center is either the start of something or a short-lived experiment. Ottawa on Wednesday will tell us a lot more than this lineup card does.
Should Jim Hiller keep McKenna on the Tavares line past Wednesday's game?
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