Heading into the 2025-26 season, the biggest question mark surrounding the Maple Leafs were there depth throughout the lineup. Did they have enough talent up front to compete with the best teams in the NHL?
For many years, the Maple Leafs would shuffle their lines throughout the season and even in the playoffs, never finding the true combination. Players would bounce up and down the lineup, even between being a healthy scratch and playing. Because the Maple Leafs would constantly do this, they struggled to find any consistency players were unable to find their footing in the lineup. This season has been a whole different story.
Craig Berube has provided defined roles instead of guesswork
Craig Berube has found where each player thrives and figured out each and every player's role in the lineup. We are no longer in the days of Sheldon Keefe and points of last season with Berube, where we don't know what the lineup will be or what change was coming next.
The Maple Leafs' bottom six has been very effective this season, the best we have seen in recent times. Not every player has to contribute to the offence; some players, such as Steven Lorentz, Calle Jarnkrok, Nicolas Roy, and Scott Laughton, are used in all different types of situations that go beyond just putting the puck in the back of the net.
Brad Treliving and Craig Berube have to be given a lot of credit for their work. During last season's Trade Deadline, when they acquired Scott Laughton, and this past offseason with acquisitions like Dakota Joshua, Matias Maccelli, and Nicolas Roy, they were all calculated moves with reason to bring them in. In years past, we would often see the Leafs bring in players to try and bolster their roster with no meaning and a lot of hope behind it.
Complementing each other in the lineup
At the beginning of the season, the Maple Leafs struggled because players weren't playing up to their potential. The reason for this was the constant line changes. Berube and the rest of the coaching staff realized that it would be crucial to give the lines time to build chemistry and to make sure to stick with what works. The Maple Leafs tried a number of different line combinations but finally found what works best.
The Maple Leafs have a system built that goes further than just scoring more goals than the other team. Each line is used for a different reason. The fourth line is often put out there to spark the bench and wear out their opponents. The third line is more of a shutdown line with jolts of offence with Nick Robertson; the second and first lines are meant to generate the offence. If you had told Leafs fans at the beginning of the season what the line combinations would be to this point, many would be shocked.
When healthy, nobody would expect Matthew Knies to be in the bottom six or Bobby McMann on the first line alongside Auston Matthews. The Leafs' coaching staff has done an incredible job as of late, thinking outside of the box and calculating what works best.