Now you swear and kick and beg us that you're a centreman
Then you find you're back at wing with the stick in your hand
You go back, Jack, do it again, wheels turnin' 'round and 'round
You go back, Jack, do it again

In our first episode of the Pumpkin Spice Chronicles, I talked about William Nylander trying once again in training camp to prove he's a centre.

William Nylander at Centre
Is it September? It is, so bring on the pumpkin spice.
PPP LeafsCathy Squires

Now, to be fair to Nylander, there's not a lot of evidence he did kick and beg. He was willing to try and wanted a fair shot. Why did the Leafs want to do this? Because if you arrange the team like it was last night with the core players on the top two lines, you have a third line that is weak at centre and lacks a clear role. Are they time eaters who defend? Are they scoring goals? Who are they?

And if they don't do something better than just okay, you have this issue:

Winning the non-Auston Minutes
Lifting the fog on who has done what for the Leafs.
PPP LeafsCathy Squires

The motivation to spread the core out is obvious: they want to have three lines that do more than the minute munching defensive fourth line that's supposed to hand off to Auston Matthews in the offensive zone.

But the horses just don't seem to be there, and the elite horse who needs to be the centre really isn't. The story is that Nylander will be a "hybrid" centre, trading off with other players, but ... come on. That's the face saving story this time around. Last year, Sheldon Keefe didn't seem to care if anyone saved face. It's a fair cop on him that he didn't act like he took the idea seriously, but why should he? It's not like he hadn't seen Nylander play the position in prior seasons when needed.

Last night looked like this:

Knies-Matthews-Marner
Domi-Tavares-Nylander
McMann-Holmberg-Pacioretty
Lorentz-Kampf-Reaves

Line one, two and four look carved in granite, but line three not only has a problem at centre, they have four wingers. Because both Nick Robertson and Calle Järnkrok are still on this team. And I don't think the Leafs are suddenly changing their mind on this guy:

Because if they want a hybrid checking/scoring/singing/dancing third line, Max Paciorrety and Bobby McMann seem made for it. But so does Järnkrok. Someone is sitting out some of the time.

Meanwhile, as much as I love Pontus Holmberg, he's not really an NHL centre beyond the fourth line variety. He isn't a power play guy, which leaves the second power play unit an all-winger affair, as mentioned on air last night by Mike Johnson. He shoots left, and the Leafs have no one to take faceoffs as a righty beyond Järnkrok. He's not great at faceoffs in general. So while he does the important stuff – he plays hockey very well and is positionally sound – he's just not really the right guy for the role.

There wasn't some long list of available centres in free agency this year, so it's not like Brad Treliving just didn't bother to deal with or didn't know this issue. But brush away the feathers flying off all those wings and forget the cap for a second, and there is the weakness no one on the roster can fix. I've seen Max Domi suggested, which is possibly the one sure way to make this worse.

This is who the Leafs have unless Fraser Minten comes out of the walking boot an NHLer. Which seems a little unlikely. Is Holmberg the placeholder until he's ready to try, though?

The Leafs get to decide this problem. And I'll bet you money I'll be writing part IV of this story at some point as they try something else entirely to make up for the fact John Tavares is only one guy who isn't getting any younger.

Training Camp