3 things the Toronto Maple Leafs need to do before Training Camp

Decide who is the 3rd-line Centre

The Toronto Maple Leafs currently don't have a third-line centre.

It is listed as Max Domi on Daily Faceoff, but Domi was re-signed to play wing with Auston Matthews, is a horrible centre because he can't defend and needs extreme sheltering to be effective in the role. It would be extremely silly to play Max Domi at centre.

The Leafs were using Pontus Holmberg as their 3rd line centre for some of the games against Boston and at the end of the year. He might be a great 4th line centre, and is certainaly a better and cheaper option than David Kampf for that role, but he can't be the team's 3rd line centre as he just isn't that good.

The Leafs need offense from the third line, and they aren't going to get it with either Holmberg or David Kampf, who, I suppose, could be another option if they were so inclined. Certainly his salary is more tenable at a third-liner, but since he has no offense to his game, Kampf is a horrible top-nine player.

There is Fraser Minten. He could be the answer. But, he's also a low-ceiling player who probably tops out as a 3rd liner. Can he anchor a third line in his rookie year if that's his ceiling? I doubt it.

Easton Cowan likely projects as a winger in the NHL, and if he's in the NHL this year it's almost certainly on the wing, but who knows? Perhpas there is an outside shot of this happening, certainly Cowan should be on the roster in one way or another, but I would think it would on the wing with whoever ends up centering the third line.

A final internal option is to take one of Mitch Marner or William Nylander (I'd go with Marner) and turn them into a centre. This would allow you to use John Tavares on the 3rd line and would really stretch the lineup and allow the Leafs to have three scoring lines.

If the first line was Knies- Matthews - Domi, then you could have a second line of Cowan-Marner-Nylander and a third line of Robertson-Tavares-McMann. That looks good to me, but it will interesting to see what the Leafs ultimately do. They could always make a trade too, who knows?

What we know is that they must resolve the Marner Situation, clear the dead weight off their roster and decide who is going to play centre on the third line.