Toronto Maple Leafs: Five Offseason Storylines

The Toronto Maple Leafs are settling down as a functional organization with a clear vision, but there are still some loose ends that need tying up.

As an organization, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been dysfunctional for a long time – but that isn’t the case anymore, and hasn’t been since Brendan Shanahan took over.

That doesn’t mean there still isn’t work to do, though, as the Toronto Maple Leafs enter the 2016 NHL offseason.

In a normal – or what became normal – offseason for the Toronto Maple Leafs there were always dozens of question marks, thousands of rumors and an angry mob of fans ready to light the digital world on fire as the Leafs waded through the offseason like a rookie fisherman in a canoe, at night, in the middle of the Atlantic, with a tree branch for a fishing rod.

The questions are now fewer and more clear; direct and more reasonable.

There is light at the end of the tunnel – a tunnel that became exceptionally longer than it was supposed to be.

Let’s take a look at five storylines surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2016 NHL offseason leading up to the NHL Draft.

Next: The Steven Stamkos Saga