No chance Joe isn’t in the lineup, especially opening night of the playoffs. My guess would be:

Hyman Matthews Marner
Foligno Tavares Marner
Mikheyev Nash Simmonds
Thornton Kerfoot Spezza

I tend to agree with this.
Keep Gally where he has been doing well.
I think Hyman and Foligno eventually get switched.

I like to see some Dermott appreciation although what is Bogo’s status? If he comes back I feel like he slots into the lineup in Dermotts spot as the Sandin-Dermott pair hasn’t been very good. It’s been a small sample size though so who knows.

I don't know how you can just slot in Nash as 3C.. Also no chance Gally is a scratch after the way he has played

Put Kerfoot on a line with Tavares . Get Jumbo Joe in here with a line on Spezza, Jombo, and Simmonds.

Yeah I agree on both and I find that odd too lol when ppl do that with Nash. Guy has good analytics, but he hasn’t played in over a month and has never played in a Leafs uniform, yet he’s our 3C in the playoffs?

I would do
Foligno -Matthews-Marner
Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander
Mikeheyev/Galchenyuk-Nash-Hyman
Thorton-Spezza-Simmonds

This is why
Keefe on Nash
“What stands out to me is the way he played against us in the series against Columbus,” I just thought he was a real factor. I really got a sense of what he can bring there as a guy that gets really difficult matchups, starts in his own end, plays against good players. I thought he had a lot of shifts against our best players where you thought, perhaps, we’d be getting the upper hand — and it didn’t work out that way.”

He will absolutely be 3rd line C

Why people think that is Keefe has tried multiple people in that 3rd line C spot to no success. Almost every mock trade you saw in the lead up to the deadline was obtaining a 3C. Well we got one, Nash

Galchenyuk and Brooks are out once Hyman, Foligno and Nash are healthy. But I really don’t like the idea of splitting up Hyman Matthews Marner. Plus if you pair Foligno with Nash at least there is some chemistry there.

I’m fine with Nash in the lineup in a shut down role, just don’t think he’s really a 3C, we really struggled with depth scoring in last years playoffs and putting him on the 3rd line pretty much kills any offensive output we would get from that line based off his analytics.

Well they still struggle with depth scoring, you think Kerfoot at 3C is really driving a line? This will always be a top heavy team with almost all the scoring coming from Matthews Marner Nylander Tavares, the Leafs will go as far as those 4 can take them. Spezza has the 6th most points for the fwds core and plays on the 4th line.
All they need is for Hyman, Foligno, Spezza, and Joe to supply some secondary scoring and the rest Kerfoot, Nash, Mikheyev, Simmonds, to shut things down and not allow quality scoring chances.

But to my original point, if Nash is in the lineup he will be the 3C.

You'd actually prefer Thornton over Gally? I can see the veteran presence aspect, but Gally brings alot more to the on ice aspect. Also, Thornton can still have a presence in the room even if he's not dressed to play. Just a thought, we have plenty of leadership on the ice (spezza, simmons, foligno, tavares) it's probably good to have players like Gally who can keep up with the speed of the game.

Maybe, plenty of different line combos to go with.
I don’t think Kerfoot drives a line but I personally think you play Hyman on the 3rd line with Kerf and Mileheyev, that line is repsonsible enough defensively while also balancing out the top 3 lines. Hyman will still get 18-20 minutes a night and you can move him around the lineup based on the situation, he’s great with Matthews and Marner, but whoever you put there, Matthews and Marner are going to produce. Leafs have 13 forwards that I want in the lineup come playoff time, the easy choice for odd man out was Galchenyuk a couple weeks ago but he’s improved with every game and works well with JT and Nylander, especially as of late. I honestly think you leave Nash out of the lineup to start and let the team who got us here see what they can do, obviously if things start going poorly you bring Nash in.

Absolutely I would take Thornton in the lineup over Galchenyuk, you can put Kerfoot/Foligno/Hyman on that line and be totally fine. Galchenyuk is a liability on defence. Something that scares me come playoff time where goals come at a premium. He misses assignments quite often. You can play Joe in the top 6 or bottom 6 and still get a reliable player. Put Galchenyuk in the bottom 6 without top players and you get a disaster. It’s a nice problem to have having this much depth, but absolutely he comes out with Brooks, who I love seeing in this lineup, once Hyman, Foligno, and Nash are healthy.

“obviously if things start going poorly you bring Nash in”
Sorry but this is not the year to have that kind of mindset. They need to come in with the best possible lineup right from day 1 and bury MTL. They have too many demons getting out of the 1st round that waiting a couple of bad games to finally put in Nash would be a mistake. I’m not saying this guy is the next great 3C, but he is hands down the best one they have right now! And that’s all that matters.

IMO it would be a mistake to take Hyman away from the top line. All of the contending teams have a dominant top line which Hyman Matthews Marner are. When scoring is so hard to come by in the playoffs you need that.

But at the of the day I DO trust Keefe as a coach and he will put together the best lineup he thinks will win.

And if I am to read between the lines with how Keefe has talked about Nash since they traded for him, he play a big role for this team come playoff time.

Good points there. I think it's hard to go wrong either way. I love that these are the types of problems we have lol

Absolutely, it’s a great debate to have. And I trust that Keefe will put the best roster he can on the ice. I could care less if I’m wrong and Galchenyuk is in, IMO I don’t, but as long as the Leafs go on a long run in the playoffs, I’m talking like Eastern Conference Finals, then I don’t care who is in the lineup.

97-15-19 line does not work. We've seen it and it sucks

Can’t argue with you there and the analytics wouldn’t either. But it’s a combination Keefe has gone to and I don’t see him throwing together a line that has never been together for the playoffs.

I would also like:
Hyman Matthews Marner
Kerfoot Tavares Nylander
Foligno Nash Mikheyev
Thornton Spezza Simmonds