During the past offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs made numerous changes with respect to their personnel both at the players and management level.
Gone were many faces that helped the Toronto Maple Leafs in their recent playoff runs, while various new blood was recruited and infused into the organization with hopes that it could help take the team to the next level going forward.
For some of the players that had departed, both the Leafs and their fans likely have desperately missed having around. That included enjoying the sight of having Ilya Lyubushkin, now with the Dallas Stars, laying “the boom” on opponent bodies and relishing the hard-nosed, gritty play of Joel Edmundson around the net, now with the Los Angeles Kings, just to name a few.
But for many others, the Maple Leafs and their faithful are most certainly glad that they are gone, especially after seeing their less-than-stellar performances to date so far this 2024-25 NHL season.
Not only that, in some cases, those that had replaced them in their former roles on the Leafs are actually currently excelling with the club.
As a result, let’s take a look at three former players that played for the Maple Leafs during the 2023-24 NHL season that we’re glad aren’t back for another season with the Blue and White this year. Had that happened, it could have been a whole different story for the Leafs this year.