With the departure of Mitch Marner this past offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs and everyone in Leafs nation knew they had a huge hole to fill on their top line heading into the 2025-26 NHL season as a result. Various candidates from their current roster have been speculated to have a shot at the premium spot beside team captain Auston Matthews and budding star winger Matthew Knies.
We may now have a better idea of which player it could be as Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube recently revealed who the main contenders will be to replace Marner on the first line. The prime candidates just so happens to be returning Leafs veteran Max Domi and the newly-acquired Matias Maccelli.
Max Domi and Matias Maccelli getting the opportunity
On media day at the start of the Leafs training camp, Berube had this to say about the two contenders when asked about who will play on the right side with Matthews and Knies.
“I guess right now, in my head, I am looking at Domi and Maccelli. They are two guys who are great passers, right? They can pass the puck and make plays, and I think that’s what the line needs, a guy to make a play … Those two guys pop in my head right now as players I want to look at with Matthews and Knies,” Berube explained.
As for his confidence on whether they will work out, Berube was hesitant yet optimistic in his belief, with one in particular that may have the upper hand.
“But will it work? I don’t know. I’ve got to see it. It takes a little time to form chemistry. Max does have some chemistry with Auston, obviously. They’ve played together at different points over the last couple of years,” Berube said.
However, with Domi suffering from a lower-body injury as a result of a tweak in recent weeks, as per Sportsnet, he won’t be available at the start of training camp. That perhaps opens the door for Maccelli to go out and prove right away that he is the man for the role.
After all, Maccelli has shown flashes of his offensive potential during his tenure with the Arizona Coyotes when he put up back-to-back double-digit goals and 49+ point seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24. However, Domi is no slouch either with 47 points recorded during the 2023-24 season in his first year with the Leafs, followed by another 33 last season. More importantly, he had shown some chemistry with Matthews when he formed a dominant first line with Tyler Bertuzzi as well towards the end of the 2023-24 season when Marner was out with an injury.
Nevertheless, with training camp now officially open for the Leafs, let the battles begin, with the prime focus squarely on who will win out in the first line sweepstakes.