The Toronto Maple Leafs strangely did not land a third-line centre over the off-season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had Max Domi in that role for most of last season but he has roughly the same quality of defensive game that I do, so that is no longer an option. David Kampf can't score and is the opposite of Max Domi. Pontus Holmberg isn't happening, and Fraser Minten is unlikely to be ready even if he wasn't injured.
As we speculated all summer, the Leafs were going to have to move one of their wingers - either Mitch Marner or William Nylander - to the middle of the ice.
One of the first bits of news released on Media Day was that new coach Craig Berube would try William Nylander at centre, something the last Leafs coach was extremely reluctant to do.
William Nylander drags former Toronto Maple Leafs coach
When asked about the move, Nylander had a hilarious answer for reporter Mark Masters that was extremely funny and stood out among the endless clichés hockey players spout to reporters daily.
William Nylander on starting at centre again:
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) September 19, 2024
"I’m excited. I told Chief that the most important thing is I can’t just play one game if you want to try centre. We agree on that ..."
Why was experiment so short last year?
"I don’t know. You’ll have to ask my old coach (smile)"
Obviously Marner and Keefe had a good relationship, but this is hilarious.
Keefe and Treliving clearly did not see eye to eye on many issues - which is what happens when a GM inherits a coach - and the main one was trying Nylander at centre.
Not only did Keefe only try the experiment for one pre-season game, he didn't even give Nylander any of the Leafs best wingers to try it out with. It seemed like he was performing an obligatory action that was forced on him, and he did it for the exact bare minimum and then never mentioned it again.
Moving Nylander is the best thing the Leafs could do - and given their penchent for signing old defenseman and ignoring their most pressing needs - it's also surprising.
Not only does it fill out a much needed role on the team, but it allows the Leafs to play Max Domi on the wing (with Nylander for now, almost certainly with Auston Matthews eventually) where he belongs.
Domi can quite literally score at a franchise player rate if he plays with Matthews, so this moves stretches the Leafs lineup in two ways, with the second way being that one of their star players will be on the third line.
Though Nylander will likely be written in as the 2C, John Tavares is going to get a similar amount of ice-time and way more defensive starts, so it's really not going to matter what title goes to which player.
The Leafs will have three elite centres on their roster, and that will make them extremey dangerous. As for Nylander and Keefe, that might be the funniest thing I've seen a hockey player say to a reporter, but it is hardly an insult and I doubt Keefe will be offended.