The effectiveness of the Leafs’ 11-forward experiment.

Although the Toronto Maple Leafs’ playoff opponent has been all but confirmed for weeks, head coach Sheldon Keefe intended to use the last quarter of the season to experiment with ideal line combinations following a highly active trade deadline.

Trial and error was inevitable, but Ryan O’Reilly’s finger break on March 4 compelled Keefe to attempt some new alignments earlier than anticipated.

Some fans are upset about Keefe’s choice to run an 11-forward/seven-defense alignment rather than the more conventional 12-forward/six-defenseman configuration, but the majority of the core seems to stand to gain significantly from the move.

After the meeting on Monday morning, Keefe told reporters, “We might find through this that we just might be better at 11 and seven.” It’s crucial, in my opinion, that we are not restricted to 12 and 6.

“Our defense has far more depth than it has ever had. We also have more forward depth, meaning we have more players who are capable of handling greater responsibility. The most comfortable arrangement is between 12 and 6, but it might not be the ideal one. We must give it some time and exercise extreme caution in how we handle it going forward.

Here’s a closer look at Keefe’s recent experiments and how they’ve gone so far.