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Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: Biggest Storylines Out of Training Camp

By Wilbert Timmermans

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 07: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his third period goal at 16:54 with Morgan Rielly #44, William Nylander #88, Auston Matthews #34, Zach Hyman #11 amd Mitchell Marner #16 against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 07, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 07: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his third period goal at 16:54 with Morgan Rielly #44, William Nylander #88, Auston Matthews #34, Zach Hyman #11 amd Mitchell Marner #16 against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 07, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 25: Joe Thornton  (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 25: Joe Thornton  (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

Shaun Filippelli

As much as I commend Kyle Dubas for not being scared off by age when addressing his team’s needs this offseason, I think that very storyline is one that demands our attention heading into the 2020-21 campaign.

He didn’t shy away from what could turn out to be impactful moves, while not letting a birth year stop him from doing so. And it’s about more than just Joe Thornton. Beyond 41-year-old Thornton, Toronto also added 32-year-old Wayne Simmonds, 31-year-old Aaron Dell, 30-year-old Zach Bogosian, 30-year-old T.J. Brodie, and 27-year-old Jimmy Vesey.

While these weren’t their only roster revisions, the commonality shared amongst those noted is that they are all above the Toronto Maple Leafs  average age of 26.8 from last season. This was an important evolution in Dubas’ strategy, as it was once thought that he was overly fixated on youth.

While there are certainly ways to justify that approach, clearly even he realized that adding some strategically experienced years may in fact be a helpful move in the right direction for a team that obviously needs the push.

It would seem that these players have found a comfortable fit through their pre-season experience with the club, as there really is nothing to suggest otherwise. However, time will tell if this deviation from Dubas’ original plan does in fact work to the team’s advantage in the way he both hopes and needs it to.

Whether the experience these players bring turns out to compliment or complicate the current makeup of the team will be on full display sooner than later, which makes it a very interesting story to follow into the season.

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