Leafs make significant changes on the blueline ahead of meeting with Caps

Leafs fans rejoice! During morning line rushes ahead of their game against Washington tonight, head coach Sheldon Keefe has made a change to the blueline that Leafs Nation has been clamoring for. Justin Holl appears set to be a scratch tonight as he was the seventh defenseman in line rushes. Holl has struggled to find his game this season and it seems Keefe has seen enough lately to give him a game (hopefully more) off.

Keefe reunited Morgan Rielly and Ilya Lyubushkin, which has been a very good pairing for the Buds. Another great pairing that appears to be reuniting is Mark Giordano and Timothy Liljegren. Liljegren has played some of his best hockey since Giordano was acquired. Gio has been a calming influence for Lily and has given him a newfound level of confidence in his game.

T.J. Brodie and Jake Muzzin round out the Leafs' pairings this morning in what some might see as a surprise given Muzzin had been absent from practice earlier in the week. Reports mentioned that he was likely dealing with a nagging lower body injury similar to the one he dealt with during last years playoffs.

The Leafs continue mixing and matching on the blueline in an attempt to find their optimal pairings ahead of the postseason. With just 9 games left, I'd imagine we'll have a pretty good idea of what that looks like before too long.