5 Predictions for the 2024-25 Toronto Maple Leafs Season

Here are five predictions for the 2024-25 Toronto Maple Leafs Season

Toronto Maple Leafs v Boston Bruins - Game Seven
Toronto Maple Leafs v Boston Bruins - Game Seven | Maddie Meyer/GettyImages
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No. 1: Bobby McMann Will Be Healthy Scratch More Than He Plays

If you look at the Leafs roster for opening night, Bobby McMann's name is not in the line-up, and personally I'm not surprised. I've said this multiple times, but McMann was locked into a spot I don't think he deserved in the summer.

He hasn't even played 100 NHL games, yet Leafs fans were locking him into a top-six winger position. If Sheldon Keefe was still the coach, I could understand the logic that McMann could draw back into a spot he was familiar with, but with a new coach, that logic goes out the window.

Bobby McMann scored 14 times in his last 30 games last year, and that should have secured him a lineup spot, but the Leafs can't help themselves when it comes to veteran name-brand players, and so they signed Max Pacioretty.

After falling behind Max Pacioretty and Nick Robertson in the line-up, McMann is going to have to fight his way to find regular minutes, and I'm not sure if it happens. He's a big body, so a fourth-line role could work, but I think Berube loves that checking shutdown line of Steven Lorentz, David Kampf and Ryan Reaves, so don't expect him to get much time.

Along as he's healthy, I can't seem him playing ahead of Pacioretty, so expect him to sit in the press box a lot. Speaking of Pacioretty...

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