The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Not Done Making Moves This Summer
Expect the Toronto Maple Leafs to make some more moves soon
The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a lot of moves this summer, and appear to be resting as, other than re-signing the unnecessary Connor Dewar, and replacing Wes Clark, they haven't done anything in weeks.
But the Toronto Maple Leafs are not done changing their roster.
There will be more moves later this summer, I guarantee it.
How do I know?
Simple: I wrote this article on how bad their bottom-six is, and signing Connor Dewar doesn't change that. (all stats naturalstattrick.com).
The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Not Done Making Moves This Summer
Before the summer is over, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a few things to do:
They must re-sign Mitch Marner. This is the big one. There is no way they can let him come into the next season unsigned, which will be the biggest distraction in team history, which is saying a lot.
The fact is, the Leafs can't win a Marner trade and they technically can't overpay him because of how valuable star players are in the NHL.
Jack Eichel and Matt Tkachuk were both traded to teams that instantly won the Stanley Cup, and Brad Treliving made one of those deals, so obviously he's not going to be the guy who trades Marner.
The Leafs also need to resolve the Nick Robertson situation - if he's in the fold his increased role can offset the loss of Tyler Bertuzzi, otherwise the Leafs essentially just swapped out Bertuzzi for Tanev because everyone else they changed is a replacement player.
The Leafs have too much deadweight on their roster and no room to break any rookies in. Therefore David kampf, Ryan Reaves and Calle Jarnkrok all obviously need to go.
And finally, who is the third line centre, because it sure as hell isn't Pontus Holmberg. The Leafs either need to make a trade for a star player to fill this role, or they have to move one of Nylander or Marner (preferably Marner) to centre while moving Tavares down to the 3C position.
Either way, their current team isn't close to being ready for October.
Before the season opens, the Toronto Maple Leafs need a new third-line centre, they must clear the dead-weight off their roster and they must resolve both of the Nick Robertson and Mitch Marner situations.
manual
How each situation is resolved will go a long way in deciding how this upcoming season goes.