Editor In Leaf
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I Think Bozak has Played his Last Game for the Maple Leafs

By James Tanner

Apr 23, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak (42) controls the puck as Washington Capitals right wing Tom Wilson (43) defends in game six of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 23, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak (42) controls the puck as Washington Capitals right wing Tom Wilson (43) defends in game six of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tyler Bozak is the Toronto Maple Leafs longest serving member.

Bozak was signed by the Maple Leafs in 2009.  As an undrafted player, his career has been amazing. Story-book levels, almost.  322 points in 513 career games is pretty amazing for a guy who wasn’t even drafted.

Tyler Bozak is a good player and I’ve been a fan of him,  hated him (not personally) and liked him again at various times during his career.  It’s been a rocky road – he was miscast as a #1 C,  he was sold as a defensive player (he isn’t particularly good at defense) and no one ever stops talking about his faceoff skills (which have absolutely no mathematical correlation to winning).

Last year, as the third centre on the depth chart, playing sheltered minutes with a couple of amazing offensive wingers, he had his best season to date – 55 points.  Nothing wrong with that, no one can say he wasn’t an effective player.

Bozak Needs to Go

Unfortunately for Bozak, the Leafs need to improve, and he is one area where they can do it internally and easily.   Just move Nylander to centre, put Kapanen on Matthew’s wing and the Leafs are automatically improved.

Bozak makes $4.2 million dollars against the cap, and while the Toronto Maple Leafs have a ton of cap room this summer, they can always use more.  Not only that, but he can be exposed in the expansion draft as bait to keep Las Vegas from selecting Leipsic, Rychel or Leivo.  Or you can trade him for something, he’s got some value.  Either way, it makes more sense to move him than to keep him.

Whenever I bring this up, the one thing that people say is that Nylander doesn’t have the defensive chops to be a centre yet.  This is very confusing because you know who is terrible at defense? Bozak!

When Bozak was on the ice last year, the Toronto Maple Leafs allowed over 34 shots per sixty minutes.   That is terrible, and no matter how bad at defense Nylander is (he’s not bad at all) there’s almost no way he’d be that bad.  34 shots against per game is terrible.

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Tyler Bozak has had a good run with the Maple Leafs. Sentimentally, I’d like to keep him around.  But if the Leafs want to improve next season, then he has played his last game for the team.  I said this once before, and I was wrong.  I could be wrong again.  But this time, I don’t think so.

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