LUCAN, Ont. — The sheet of ice at Lucan Community Memorial Centre may have been a bit smaller than regulation size, but that didn’t stop John Tavares and Mitch Marner from showing what may be in store for the rest of the NHL this season and beyond.



The short story: the Leafs will be a matchup nightmare.



Tavares and Marner put on a show together in the teeny-tiny town of Lucan, teaming with Zach Hyman to shred the parts of the Ottawa Senators that travelled westward. It was that kind of connection which made the threat of Tavares joining the Leafs in the first place so intriguing. The two would offer the Leafs a second supremely skilled duo for opponents to contend with after the young tag-team of Auston Matthews and William Nylander.



There was even scarier potential for a power play that already ranked near the top for the league.



How would opposing coaches match up against all that?



Guy Boucher had only one of those combos to...