The Toronto Maple Leafs - barring a revamping of their forward lines - have made Max Domi expendable.
Max Domi is making nearly $4 million dollars, but he can't play centre, doesn't score goals, and is such a defensive liability that if the Leafs use him on the third line, they have to play their fourth line in dicey situations. The Toronto Maple Leafs have six star forwards this year (Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Pacioretty and Kniews) and an impressive all-kid third-line right now.
Though the Leafs are highly likely to add another centre to the mix, there just isn't any room for Domi.
Now, I'm all for stretching the lineup and putting all three superstars on a different line, then using Domi on the wing with Matthews. However, if that isn't the plan, they can recycle Domi's cap-hit in a much more efficient way.
Max Domi is having an awful season and the Toronto Maple Leafs need cap-space
Max Domi has just six points in 21 games, playing top-six minutes on one of the NHL's best teams. That is pathetic. His 22 penalty minutes just make him worse. (stats naturalstattrick.com).
When the Leafs play Domi this year, the other team has the puck for 53% of the time. The Leafs have won his minutes so far (thanks to incredible goal-tending) but their expected goals with Domi on the ice is negative and they are vastly outshot when he plays.
Domi takes too many penalties and is horrendous at defense, so when he only scores a point every fourth game or so, he's hurting the team whenever he plays. Additionally, he is not a good centre and even with Pacioretty on the injured-reserve, the Leafs would be better off playing Nick Robertson or Bobby McMann in the top six rather than Domi.
In three games with Matthews out, Domi played centre on the top line, and scored zero 5v5 points. He was decent, if uneventful, against Boston, truly terrible against Detroit, and embarrassingly bad against Montreal.
At his best, Max Domi is a scrappy winger who has elite passing skills and can compliment a superstar like Auston Matthews. If the Leafs want to reunite them, I am all for it. If not, they need to cut bait because Domi is an expensive replacement player with negative value who is signed for a long time at way too much money for what he brings.