2025-26 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion
- Thread starter herman
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Guru Tugginmypuddah
Well-known member
Three holes in the ground.
azzurri63
Well-known member
I don't recall any trades we made at the deadline that has moved the needle for this team going into the playoffs. Dubas and now Tre have left the cupboards dry and losing Marner for basically nothing is downright idiotic. We can't make a decent trade to acquire anyone that can remotely replace Marner, and there's nothing on the farm or juniors maybe Cowan that makes the future look more promising. Unless Tre works miracles I think we are in for a downfall. I'm sure Tre's looking hard overseas because the only thing I see is bringing in players from Russia or Europe etc that won't cost anything other than money because we don't have anything to offer in a trade really.
In a perfect world, we keep Cowan and let him develop as long as necessary. However, it's not a perfect world. The Leafs really have up to 3 seasons (Matthews contract) to win a Cup, so if that requires moving Cowan to bring in the right player(s), so be it.
How likely is he to be a significant contributor in the next 3 years? Two years ago I thought he was almost ready for the NHL, he looked really good in preseason. Then last year, not so much. So I really don't have any idea how long it will be before he makes an impact. It may well be that his impact will be allowing the Leafs to add an important piece that helps them win now. We'll see.
How likely is he to be a significant contributor in the next 3 years? Two years ago I thought he was almost ready for the NHL, he looked really good in preseason. Then last year, not so much. So I really don't have any idea how long it will be before he makes an impact. It may well be that his impact will be allowing the Leafs to add an important piece that helps them win now. We'll see.
Interesting tidbit. I'm not really the biggest fan of Boeser, so maybe a bit of a bullet dodged here. Would definitely have rather went after Ehlers, which the Leafs likely did as well but missed out on too.
L K
Well-known member
With free agency basically done the Leafs are sitting with
Knies - Matthews - Maccelli
McMann - Tavares - Nylander
Domi - Roy - Jarnkrok
Kampf - Laughton - Lorentz
Pezzetta
The team did nothing to address the fact that the defence can't move the puck up the ice with any reliability. We lost an important player for that in Marner. Couple that with Berube's approach of having the team collapse in the defensive zone and I think this is going to be an ugly and not fun year to watch Leafs hockey.
Knies - Matthews - Maccelli
McMann - Tavares - Nylander
Domi - Roy - Jarnkrok
Kampf - Laughton - Lorentz
Pezzetta
The team did nothing to address the fact that the defence can't move the puck up the ice with any reliability. We lost an important player for that in Marner. Couple that with Berube's approach of having the team collapse in the defensive zone and I think this is going to be an ugly and not fun year to watch Leafs hockey.
Arn
Well-known member
Wish you hadn’t written it out like that
You’re right though. A lot of leafs hockey last season was nigh on unwatchable. Apparently in the name of making the team more of a force in the playoffs. Sacrificing the entertainment of 82 games for the potential of a playoff run where actually nothing much had changed.
Now we’ve subtracted one of the rare entertaining lights from it as well.
I agree about the D especially.
Thing is I can’t really see any ways to make any more improvements, either entertainment wise or potential result wise.
Of your bottom 2 lines I’d actually like to see really only 3 of them remain (Roy, Laughton, Lorentz) so maybe if we can reshape that or something
herman
Well-known member
It’s July 3rd and I would’ve been way more upset if Treliving added a lot of free agents, given that the players on the market were collectively both (mostly) expensive and underpowered.
Let’s see what other trades materialize (Maccelli, Roy). Rosters are a work in progress until after the deadline.
Let’s see what other trades materialize (Maccelli, Roy). Rosters are a work in progress until after the deadline.
L K
Well-known member
I'd have a lot more optimism if we had anything worth trading. We spent all our bullets on 4th line centres who the coach wouldn't play higher in the lineup to force Holmberg down our throats....who the team subsequently let walk in free agency.
I get this isn't likely to be the final roster but I have a hard time seeing how we find top of the lineup talent when our trade assets are limited
herman
Well-known member
That’s very fair; I think the team is well positioned to capitalize if something shakes loose, say in November when some teams start to separate themselves from the pack in the wrong direction. The most likely option would be a rather expensive player with a bit of trade control that wants to come here, instead of slumming it in a rebuild (all the yellow teams).
In the meantime, we have the room to stress test some options on the cusp.
Arn
Well-known member
I agree with LK.
One of the things that sort of a tiny bit made the loss of Marner "palatable" was the prospect of added depth and changing identity and all that.
Then you look at the bottom 6, which has contributed absolutely the square root of f**k all... and it's the same useless bums.
While the top 6 additions aren't world beaters either.
I know making ALL those changes was unlikely in one small free agency period. But when you sit back and look at how they can do it going forward... I really don't see how they can.
To me it'll have to be things like trading Kampf and Jarnkrok, but what for? They don't have huge amounts of value and any trade with them in is as likely going to be like for like possibly. And we don't have many picks or prospects to spice up any deals.
For funsies, this would probably be my forward line-up if we started the season tomorrow:
Knies-Matthews-Domi
Maccelli-Tavares-Nylander
Laughton-Roy-McMann
Lorentz-Kampf-Jarnkrok/Pezzetta
Some pros. I think compared to playoffs we've gone from having two 4th lines, neither of which really provided much value (especially against Florida) to having an actual legitimate 3rd line that can take defensive face-offs/minutes. It also should have more goal scoring ability than the playoffs checking line. The 4th line is still a little weird. Feel like the bottom-6 still needs 1 more player: either a checking winger to drop Laughton down to 4C or a new 4C that can play at a little higher pace/with more physicality than Kampf.
I have, for awhile now, wanted to see the JT/Willy duo split it some how because I don't think they consistently play as well together as they should. It doesn't look like that's happening. With that said a potential 60-point play-making forward like Maccelli is probably the best forward that duo has ever had on their left wing. More specifically it's a crazy upgrade over playoffs where they were saddled with a 4th liner in either Holmberg or Pacioretty.
That leads us to the top line. I don't need to tell anyone that Domi is a massive downgrade on Marner. That's probably putting it lightly. I'll say this though, I think with the way Domi is as a person if you sat him down in training camp and laid out that the top RW spot alongside Matthews is his and that the team was going to lean on him more than ever that would probably lead to us seeing the best version of Max Domi. At the very least it'd be a fine enough stopgap measure while the team poked around on an upgrade (and maybe it'd inflate Domi's trade value).
louisstamos
Well-known member
Slight shift for me
Knies - Matthews - Domi
Maccelli - Tavares - Nylander
McMann - Roy - Robertson/Cowan
Lorentz - Laughton - Jarnkrok
Kampf - Pezzetta
I really like the way the LLJ line played in the playoffs - and while the idea of giving up a 1st and a prospect for a 4th line centre is not ideal, and having Jarnkrok making $2mil+ to play on the 4th line isn't ideal, the way they were deployed in the playoffs was basically as a 3rd line - they got more ice time than the Domi line pretty consistently. In which case, Kampf can be traded or even put on waivers/sent down at the beginning of the year.
Otherwise, I'd give Cowan a real shot at making the team. It's basically down to him and Robertson, so if he can beat him out in camp, he's earned an NHL shot.
One of the things Treliving always brings up about Roy is his ability to play in a bit of a match-up role so I'd be surprised if that's not what Berube is penciling him in for too. That means players like Domi/Robertson/Cowan are a little incompatible with him. Something like this could certainly work though if they plan on having the Laughton-led 4th line eat defensive zone draws instead.