It's a puzzle that's befuddled Maple Leaf head coaches for five seasons and counting: Who to play next to John Tavares and William Nylander on the team's second line.
To say it's been a revolving door there for Craig Berube and Sheldon Keefe before him is an understatement.
Nineteen (!) forwards logged at least 30 minutes with Tavares and Nylander dating back to the start of the 2020-21 season, many on multiple occasions. There were seven alone last year: Max Pacioretty, Bobby McMann, Pontus Holmberg, Max Domi, Matthew Knies, Mitch Marner, and Calle Järnkrok.
McMann will get the first audition this fall, thanks in part, Berube explained, to his 6-foot-2, 217-pound frame.
The broader list also includes Alex Galchenyuk, Alex Kerfoot, Ilya Mikheyev, Zach Hyman, Jimmy Vesey, Michael Bunting, Ondrej Kase, Nick Robertson, Ryan O'Reilly, Denis Malgin, Tyler Bertuzzi and Wayne Simmonds.
Thirty minutes is not a large sample. Yet it speaks to the inability to fill the hole, typically at left wing, that so many candidates have cycled in and out for mostly small chunks like that over the years.
Only two of those 19 players topped even 200 minutes: Kerfoot, who stuck around for 401 minutes during the 2021-22 season, and Bertuzzi, who got about 365 minutes during his only season with the Leafs.
For context, Knies logged nearly 600 minutes alongside Auston Matthews and Marner last season and over 400 minutes the season prior. There has been far more stability on the No. 1 line (though that may change this season).
That would seem to explain at least some of the turnover.
The Leafs' top left winger has tended to play on the team's No. 1 line.
Tavares and Nylander, when they have played together, have gotten the next best thing, usually the team's sixth-best forward and often enough, a tweener not suited for full-time duty in the top six.
When the playoffs started last spring, Domi got the call, even after a brief and unsuccessful run during the regular season. He lasted only two games against the Senators before Berube turned to Holmberg, a safer choice who got the next three games, after which the Leafs' coach pivoted again to Pacioretty in Game 6.
Pacioretty scored a crucial goal that night and set up Nylander for another.
Of the 19, arguably, no one clicked better with the two Leaf stars.
Tavares was diplomatic at first when asked for his pick of the best. Moments later, he brought up Pacioretty, who "was a real good fit."
"I know me and him really clicked in a lot of ways," Tavares, who turned 35 last week, said, "I think probably from our experience in the league and maybe our age and what not. His style of play, I thought, complemented (us) really well."
Though he was in the twilight of a storied NHL career, Pacioretty possessed the ideal blend of attributes for third-wheel duty with Tavares and Nylander. He was formerly one of the league's top goal scorers, which meant he knew how to create offence, even if he wasn't the same player physically at age 36. Pacioretty knew where he needed to be and where to put the puck. He knew how to make himself useful in the offensive zone next to two elite offensive talents.
He also happened to be 6-foot-2 and nearly 220 pounds. Big and strong enough to make a bang physically, grind for pucks next to Tavares down low, and get to the net for opportunities that might come from bursts of Nylander's playmaking.
Just about everyone else lacked one crucial ingredient.
Kerfoot had the smarts, but not the size. Domi proved unreliable defensively and with the puck. Mikheyev had size and speed, but not enough offensive flair. Holmberg had even less punch on offence.
Tavares believes that what he and Nylander need is someone who can be "really good along the walls" and "really be on top of the opponent" to free up loose pucks as well as time and space. That someone also needs to "be able to read the game and use our instincts to be effective."
By which he means boast enough hockey smarts to play off two highly skilled and cerebral offensive artists, executing give-and-go hockey along the way.
"I know for me, personally," Tavares said, "that's always something that's been very successful, and why me and Willy have been able to have success is (our) understanding of how to use each -- manipulating your opponent, making it difficult to defend, not just one guy but both players, especially when you can get the puck to move effectively."
Is McMann the guy to help them do that? Berube is betting on his size above all.
"I like a big guy with those guys to forecheck," the Leafs coach said, "get in there and create loose pucks, help out JT in that situation."
Tavares pointed to McMann's emergence as a power forward (20 goals, 136 hits) last season and thought he had even more room to grow, "realizing how strong and how physically dominant he can be, as just a real strong up-and-down power winger, with obviously a great shot."
McMann would need to continue to develop his hockey sense and awareness, Tavares added, "to play certainly with someone like Willy, that's so creative, so unique, that type of skillset that it can help open up the ice really, really well."
And that's going to be the challenge for McMann: Does he have enough of that to hang long-term with Tavares and Nylander? Can he make enough plays?
Size alone has never been enough for this prominent role.
McMann's game has been more straight lines and finishing to this point. Playmaking isn't a strong suit: The 29-year-old has registered a total of 24 assists in 140 NHL games.
McMann hopes to make his mark with speed and intends to hang onto the puck this season, hopefully to create not just for himself but also for others.
"It's nice talking with Willy," McMann said. "We talk about pressuring hard. We're both fast, and we can get up and make it really uncomfortable for the D, even if you're not hitting them. It's just getting a stick in there."
"And then I'm trying to get in there and disrupt, get hits and get it to the net," McMann said.
McMann's longest stint on the line last season was nine games.
Will he be a more lasting answer this season? Or will Berube add even more names - Dakota Joshua? Matias Maccelli? Easton Cowan? - to the list?
(Top photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)