3 important moves the Toronto Maple Leafs made this summer

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had an eventful summer. Every year, teams make changes, and sometimes there are more than others. I think the Leafs made some impactful changes this summer.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not running it back, as some often criticize them for doing. Leafs general manager Brad Treliving fired head coach Sheldon Keefe and most of his coaching staff. Treliving then hired Craig Berube as the new head coach and brought in some new assistant coaches to change the voices on the bench.

Another change made this summer was John Tavares relinquishing his captaincy and giving it to Auston Matthews. As the captain, you are expected to be the voice inside the locker room. I'm sure there were many times when Matthews might have wanted to say something but didn't want to overstep Tavares. Now, that will not be a problem. This is Matthews' team now, so we'll see how well the rest of the roster responds to his leadership.

As for making player changes, Treliving spent most of free agency making changes to the Leafs defense and goaltending. Leafs regulars that are gone from last season are defensemen T.J. Brodie, Mark Giordano, and goaltender Ilya Samsonov. Time will tell if their replacements will be an improvement or not.

Now it's time to look at the Leafs three best moves from this summer and what the expectations should be.

Toronto Maple Leafs re-sign Max Domi

The Toronto Maple Leafs re-signed forward Max Domi on June 30th to a four-year contract worth $3.75 million annually. (All salary information from puckpedia.com)

Domi spent most of his first Leafs season playing in the middle six. He registered nine goals and 38 assists for 47 points in 80 regular season games. The Maple Leafs playoff run was short, but Domi registered one goal and three assists for four points in seven games. (All stats from hockey-reference.com)

Domi can play on the wing or at center, which allows him to move freely up and down the lineup. I would like to see him spend more time on the wing with skilled players in the Leafs top six. He knows what it's like to play with Mitch Marner from their days together in the OHL playing for the London Knights. Last season, Domi showed some good chemistry playing with Matthews as well.

Domi and Matthews were paired for about one-fifth of the season and both players posted improved numbers with each over what they put up with anyone else. Matthews scored more points and posted better on-ice numbers with Domi on a per minute basis than anyone else.

Domi went from barely winning his third-line minutes (despite extreme sheltering) to absolutely dominating his first-line minutes. Using Domi at the top of the lineup stretches the Leafs lineup and essentially gives them one extra star player to work with.

I think if Domi plays the majority of this season on one of the Leafs top two lines, he will improve upon his stats from last season. Getting back to the 20 goals he scored during the 2022-23 season shouldn't be out of the question for him. Domi could easily be a 20-goal, 60-point player for the Leafs.