Frankie Corrado believes 5 forwards strategy is not the solution for Maple Leafs’ powerplay struggles 

NHL analyst Frankie Corrado does not believe that using five forwards on the power play will solve the Toronto Maple Leafs' struggles with the man advantage this season.

Since Auston Matthews returned from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for nine games, the Leafs' power play has gone just 2-for-16.

In an effort to spark the unit, coach Craig Berube has been running a five-forward power play group consisting of Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander and Matthew Knies.

When asked about the five forwards approach on "The Leafs Nation" podcast, Corrado said:

"I hate it, I hate the five forwards. I'm almost obligated to hate it as a defenseman. But secondly, why do we pay defensemen $7 million or $4 million, you know, all these millions of dollars? Why do we pay them that much money? So, like yeah, it's to play good D, sure."

Corrado feels the Leafs are forcing an unnatural strategy instead of leveraging their highly paid blueliners like they have in seasons past.

“The five forwards thing, it seems like it's little forced and it seems unnatural," he added.

Corrado added that the Maple Leafs are better served using their highly paid defensemen like Morgan Rielly, who has experience quarterbacking NHL power plays, rather than forcing five forwards who may not gel well together.

Maple Leafs HC Craig Berube's thoughts on using 5 forwards on power play unit

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube discussed his strategy of deploying five forwards on the team's top powerplay unit. Berube explained that his main goals are to build confidence and generate more offense by putting the team's most skilled players on the ice together.

"Well, confidence, right? It is one. We have to keep working on it," Berube said last month on the five forwards strategy.

"If you look at that power play, we shot a lot of pucks. There was a little more directness, which was good, and then a seamed opened up, and we hit it. We have talked about [running five forwards] for a bit, and we decided to go with it," he added.

The Maple Leafs, currently first in the Atlantic division with an 18-9-2 record, face the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena next on Saturday.