The Toronto Maple Leafs have a whole bunch of free-agents, and for most of them, this should be the end of their time in Toronto.
When the Toronto Maple Leafs brought in Ryan O’Reilly and the rest of their excellent trade deadline haul, it was thought that this would finally put them over the top.
And while it did give them an excellent team, it turns out that secondary scoring was once again their undoing.
The Leafs have tried to bring in the grinders, the playoff warriors and it doesn’t work. What the Leafs need to do is bring in youth. They need to be faster. They need players with upside. They need to have a group of players they can actually count on to score when their superstars are going cold.
Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Ditch the Grinders
Whether it’s Joe Thornton, Jason Spezza, Nick Foligno, Patrick Marleau, Luke Schenn or Ryan O’Reilly, the Leafs have consistently gone after the old-veteran players, with various degrees of success.
It hasn’t worked, so maybe it’s time to mix up the formula. The most fun version of this team was when the Big Three were complimented by Connor Brown, Andreas Johnson and Kasperi Kappanen.
I’d like to see the Leafs get back there.
The Leafs have seven UFA forwards: Kerfoot, O’Reilly, Kampf, Acciari, Bunting, Simmonds and Aston-Reese.
Of those seven, I’d sign Noel Acciari and let the rest go. Acciari gives you an element you definitely need, but once, not seven times.
That is six forwards the Leafs would need to replace.
Matthews Knies, Nick Robertson, Alex Steevs, Pontus Holmberg, Ty Voit, Nick Abruzzese, Fraser Minten, Roni Hirvonen, Dmitry Ovchinnivkov, Ryan Tverberg and Semyon Der-Arguchintsov should all be given opportunities to win jobs.
Speed, upside, the hunger of youth. That’s what wins hockey games. Grinding and Experience obviously have no effect, or the Leafs would have four Stanley Cups by now.
On defense, it is not even worth considering bringing back any of their UFAs. Luke Schenn, that’s an easy call. Justin Holl, even easier. Erik Gustaffson, see you later.
If possible, the Leafs should find someone to take the last year of TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano’s contracts, and rebuild the blueline around McCabe, Rielly and Liljegren.
Finding a legitimate number-one defender would be their top priority, after signing Dubas to an extension, and firing Sheldon Keefe.