The Maple Leafs have been incredibly fortunate this year. They’ve been so healthy all year.

More specifically, they’ve been unusually healthy up front, with their top nine forwards missing a total of four games after Toronto’s first 56. That simply doesn’t happen in the NHL. Especially not with this year’s compact schedule.

But it has happened, and as a result, Mike Babcock’s lines have remained intact. The goals have been plentiful. The adversity has been in short supply. And the D has been getting most of the blame when they lose.

It was interesting to see, then, what the Leafs looked like minus Mitch Marner on Saturday, in a pivotal game against the Ottawa Senators.

More than anything, what they looked like was a two line team.

With Marner out, the line scramble Babcock went with made sense.

Josh Leivo bumped up with Leo Komarov and Nazem Kadri, after a good night in a lost cause together in Columbus earlier in the week. Auston Matthews, meanwhile, regained William Nylander on his right wing. And Connor Brown slid in to take Marner’s role with James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak.

Two of those lines were fine against Ottawa. One was not fine.

“I like the way [Leivo] plays,” Kadri said of his new winger, who helped him create Toronto’s second goal. “He’s a big body – he’s got skill, he can see the ice, he’s good on the forecheck. I like his game the way it is and all he needed was a bit of confidence.”

“I think it went well,” Matthews said of reuniting with Nylander, who picked up two points. “We’ve seen each other from time to time this year. We play power play together so we have that sense of chemistry, we know where each other is at and he was skating tonight. It’s always a good sign when he’s skating because he’s making plays all over the ice.”

Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Unfortunately, there was no quote available from the other line after the game, which fit with their performance. This was another no-show for van Riemsdyk and Bozak, who clearly missed Marner. Minus their catalyst, their minutes were lower than normal, a bit of a trend recently as they really settle into third-line territory at even strength.

As for the Leafs fourth line and centre Ben Smith?

“His intangibles are more than his skill set,” Babcock had said before the game.

Riiiight…

Even strength minutes for the Leafs forwards this season. Bozak is fifth and JVR is seventh. And they’re dropping.

The last six games, Bozak is down to 13 minutes a game at even strength. JVR is at 12, on the nose, with three games at less than 11 minutes. They’re both still key pieces of the top power-play unit but neither kills penalties and Babcock’s trust in them at 5-on-5 appears to be slipping.

It was one game, but it speaks volumes that their play dipped so dramatically without Marner. All season, Babcock has been praising the rookie’s ability to drive his line, something intended as kudos for him but that doubles as slightly damning to his far more seasoned linemates. And it has been more and more noticeable as the season has gone on.

Increasingly, it has been Marner breaking the puck out and sailing through the neutral zone for that trio.

Increasingly, he has been the playmaker on the power play, establishing a presence in the zone.

He has been everywhere for that line, making it go. And he’s 19 years old.

JVR and Bozak have had a charmed existence in Toronto, if you think about it. They’ve both played the vast majority of their minutes with elite right wingers: either Phil Kessel or Marner. They’ve had tons of PP time. And they’ve largely avoided criticism from the usual circles, in the press or the fan base, despite not being great two-way players.

The Leafs have a ton of decisions to make this summer. With the kids, those calls are easy: re-sign Brown and Hyman to reasonable bridge deals and try and hammer out something with Zaitsev, if you can. Tell the rest to train hard and keep doing what they’re doing.

With the veterans… well this is a group that needs a rethink. Obviously the Smith experiment needs to end as quickly as possible. The Leafs fourth line has felt like a lost cause much of the year, and the PK is getting horrendous results with Smith logging key minutes.

A good ratio is more like 75-80 CA/60 on the PK. NHL average is 90. Ben Smith is at almost 160, or his team facing 5.5 attempts per PK. — James Mirtle (@mirtle) February 19, 2017

One reason I support the Leafs spending money this summer on a decent fourth line centre, like Brian Boyle (a pending UFA), is Babcock fetishizes those checker types. He did in Detroit, and we’re seeing it here. He wants big, hard, tough “men” to win faceoffs, eat gravel and kill penalties. It seems to be what’s happening with guys like Smith and Matt Hunwick, who are admittedly physical specimens.

Getting someone competent in those minutes is one easy fix that won’t cost a fortune.

Higher in the lineup, the decisions are tougher. Komarov is under contract for two more years (at a reasonable number); JVR and Bozak only have one. If the depreciation we’re seeing of late – with their ice time and their play – continues, it’s hard to imagine either of the latter two figure into the long-term plans.

Moving Bozak is a no-brainer. Babcock is already on record saying he believes Nylander is a better fit at centre, and he would be able to drive a very effective third unit with someone like his pal Kasperi Kapanen on his wing. You’d have to shelter them, but that’s no problem when Matthews and Kadri are your long term 1-2 up the middle.

If they can shift Bozak’s $4.2-million out it also gives the Leafs a lot more cap flexibility, which could be especially important if Matthews hits all his bonuses and Toronto is stuck with a big overage.

JVR is trickier. You’re going to want value coming back the other way because he has value. But he will be a rental next season, and he’ll be in line for a huge payday, one that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense given new contracts for Nylander (in 2018) and Matthews/Marner (2019) are coming.

Paying a 29-year-old JVR around $7-million a year long term doesn’t compute. Not when he is seventh among forwards on a depth chart that is filled with first-year players right now.

In a perfect world, he is part of a package that nets you the defenceman the Leafs clearly need. In a perfect world, you can find someone younger and cheaper to replace what he brings, in front of the net on the PP.

You watch a game like this one slip away, and him sit on the bench, and you can’t help but believe that’s in the plans.

You can’t help but think the kids are alright – and some of the veterans need to be shuffled to make way for what’s next.