The Leafs Should Wait and See on McCabe
The case for extending defenseman Jake McCabe is more interesting. His play during the second half of last season warrants a new deal, but it took some time to reach that level.
The first part of 2024-2025 saw him take unnecessary gambles for big hits mixed in with the occasional foolish penalty and giveaways. During the stretch run and into the playoffs, he was a nasty, hard-hitting nemesis that the Leafs blue line needed.
He brings the thunder like no other Leafs blueliner and is a threatening presence to opposition forwards cruising through the neutral zone. None of the team's other defensemen have that capability, except maybe Chris Tanev.
Something else to consider is the age of the Leafs defense. It's old. Tanev and Ekman-Larsson are thirty-four and thirty-three years old respectively. McCabe and Rielly are thirty. The team still doesn't know what it has in younger defensemen like Timothy Liljegren, Cade Webber, and Topi Niemela.
In two years, the Maple Leafs blue line could see a depreciable drop-off in play due to age. Getting McCabe signed now is premature, but if he has a solid first half of 2024-2025, the Leafs would be wise to get ahead of the market and try to sign the rearguard to an extension.
From the Leafs perspective, Marner and Knies make the most sense to get extensions done. Marner and his agent seem content to test free agency. Treliving hasn't demonstrated the same urgency to get a Marner deal done as he did a year ago when signing both Matthews and Nylander to extensions. That leaves a surprising choice as the team's most urgent extension candidate.