3 Toronto Maple Leafs players that might be gone by the end of the month
Despite some early team success, these three Leafs could find themselves out of the picture by the time November rolls around
The Toronto Maple Leafs have gotten off to a solid start one week into their 2024-25 NHL season. Despite dropping a heartbreak 1-0 to the Montreal Canadiens in the season opener, they actually played quite well looked strong both offensively and defensively in the process. In fact, they peppered Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault relentlessly with 48 shots, so with a little more luck, they could have secured a victory instead.
Nevertheless, the Toronto Maple Leafs have carried that momentum into the following two games. Playing under the newfound structure of head coach Craig Berube, they displayed great poise in their convincing wins over the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins.
More importantly, the Maple Leafs haven’t been relying just on their stars for their early success, as they have received some much-needed secondary scoring along with some strong play from their bottom lines. Even the newcomers in Steven Lorentz and Max Pacioretty have already gotten on the scoreboard with their first goals as a Leaf.
It may still be early in the season, but the Maple Leafs have certainly looked good and confident under the guidance of Berube, especially from a defensive standpoint. But despite the valuable contributions from practically most of the players, there are still some that may find themselves not surviving the roster by the end of October.
As a result, we will take a look at three Maple Leafs players that could be gone by the time the turn of the month takes place.
3 Toronto Maple Leafs players that might be gone by the end of the month
Ryan Reaves
When the Maple Leafs first went out to get Ryan Reaves through free agency during the 2023 offseason, they truly believed that he could add some valuable toughness and veteran experience to the club going forward. With his intimidating presence, it should allow the Leafs star players to have a bit more freedom when roaming the ice, thus improving the team’s chances of winning and long-term success.
However, at the current age of 37, Reaves has had some trouble keeping up to the fast-paced action that the game has evolved into in recent years. In effect, it has made him a defensive liability whenever he set his foot on the ice. Last season, opponents have outscored the Leafs 22-10 at 5-on-5 situations with Reaves active on the ice. .
His spot in the lineup was already suspect entering the 2024-25 season. Now with the rise of Lorentz and Pacioretty making key contributions after joining the Leafs this year, along with the dire hunger of young elite talent in Bobby McMann and Nick Robertson in trying to establish themselves, added to the eventual return of Connor Dewar and Calle Jarnkrok, Reaves’ time in the lineup and essentially his tenure with the Leafs could be coming to an end pretty soon.
Dennis Hildeby
During the 2024 offseason, the Leafs managed to build up some strong goaltending depth heading into the 2024-25 year.
With the help of free agency, Toronto now had the starting tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz, along with veteran Matt Murray and the up-and-coming Dennis Hildeby down in the farm with the Toronto Marlies to serve as their safety net.
That depth has now been put to the test when Woll began the year on the injured reserve due to a sustained lower-body injury.
That in turn thrusted Hildeby into the spotlight. As the emergency callup, he now served as Stolarz’s backup in Woll’s absence, but only because the Leafs would have to send Matt Murray through waives when Woll is healthy. If it was a longer term injury with Woll, the Leafs would likely call up Murray instead of giving Hildeby an extended run.
Hildeby didn’t have time to catch his breath as he would go on to make his NHL debut in just the second game of the season for the Leafs. The 23-year-old rookie goaltender did nit disappoint as he ended up faring quite well against a fast Devils squad, stopping 22 of 24 shots en route to his first NHL win of his career.
However, despite how well Hildeby ends up performing in the coming weeks, his tenure with the big club will likely last until Woll makes his eventual return from his injury, which will likely be Wednesday when his 7 day designation on the IR ends.
There isn't currently no timeline for Woll’s potential return but he is only on the 7 day IR and the Leafs didn't call up Murray, so it likely means he'll play this week.
Timothy Liljegren
The ongoing development of the situation for Timothy Liljegren has actually been quite surprising beacuse he clearly is one of the Leafs four best defenseman, and shouldn't be a spare part on any team, let alone this one.
That said, Liljegren looks like he'll get into the team's game on Wednesday against them LA Kings.
Even just last season, Liljegren has made great strides in his game as he posted a career-high in assists with 20, along with tying his career-best in points with 23 in just 55 games played. In addition, he had appeared to progress in his development enough such that he was often elevated to the second pairing with Jake McCabe, and even at times to the top pairing with Morgan Rielly.
On top of that, Liljegren also saw time on the second power play unit along with brief glimpses on the penalty kill, giving him valuable experience playing in all situations. Overall, he has almost 200 NHL games of experience winning his minutes. (All stats from naturalstattrick.com and NHL.com)
However, things have not gotten off on the right foot for him thus far heading into the 2024-25 season. After an underwhelming performance during the preseason, Liljegren has found himself in Berube’s doghouse as he was no longer among the starting six on defense for the Leafs.
In fact, he has been a healthy scratch so far after a week into the season and hasn’t received any opportunity to at least show once again what he could provide to the team. As a result, Liljegren has found himself amidst swirling rumors of potentially being traded, which could be happening any time soon now if the situation continues to escalate.
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Liljegren could be gone by the end of the month, but team's almost always regret losing players like him, so I would expect the Leafs to give him a chance to redeem himself before they do anything rash.