The Toronto Maple Leafs revamped their defense on July 1 after general manager Brad Treliving signed Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson to long term deals, while also signing Timothy Liljegren to a two-year extension.
Now as we head towards the third week of July, it appears everything has gone quiet in the Toronto Maple Leafs world, but there is still important tasks the organization needs to get done.
The Leafs forwards are worse than when the season ended and the Mitch Marner situation is yet to be resolved, there are other things that did involve adding players to the roster which need to be done.
Here are two things that Treliving needs to do before training camp opens in September.
2 Tasks for the Toronto Maple Leafs Before the End of the Summer
The Captaincy
The Toronto Maple Leafs went three seasons without a captain before John Tavares was named to the position for the 2019-20 season and at the time it was much debated the role would come down to him, Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly.
Unfortunately, like his time as the captain of the New York Islanders, John Tavares was unable to lead his team forward as he got out the first round just once, which matches the amount of times the Maple Leafs have done so under his captaincy.
After five years, it is time the franchise makes a change and that is handing it to the best player in franchise history, Auston Matthews. Tavares has not been a bad captain, but he also hasn't been a good captain. He is the quiet leader that works hard and shows up, but the team needs something different.
From a fans point of view, Matthews has taken strides as a leader and holds himself accountable when speaking to the media. He appears to be more vocal, while also holding himself to the same, if not higher standard than Tavares.
Extend Matthew Knies
Rumours had it, that had the Maple Leafs offered Mitch Marner a contract in the $8M range going into the last year of his entry level contract they could have got him done for eight years of term. Unfortunately, Marner played the season and broke out 93-points which put the team into cap trouble when they had to sign him to nearly $11 Million.
While it is highly unlikely that Matthew Knies will have the same output, it isn't out of the question to see him crack 30-goals. The former second round pick just finished his rookie season that saw him collect 15-goals and 35-points in just 13:41 of ice-time and rarely seeing any powerplay time.
Knies now knows what it takes to play a full 80-game season which will likely help him train this summer to be even bigger and stronger this upcoming season. Knies is primed to breakout and if the team goes with two evenly deployed powerplays he could see a lot more powerplay minutes.
What could happen if the team doesn't act this summer, is Knies explodes and wants a deal in the Juraj Slafkovsky realm, but if they act before training camp, they may be able to get it much lower.