I just don’t understand how every year the Toronto Maple Leafs can’t seem to make progress. The moves made by Kyle Dubas and Brad Treliving seem to be logical, but still nothing. Sure, this year’s deadline was a bit underwhelming, but I would say most of the team additions played their part in the playoffs.
While fans clamor that the team can no longer run it back, they, too, seem to be stuck in the same habitual cycle of demanding something has to change. Often that’s Mitch Marner’s presence on the team, to which I say… no. Marner is well within his rights to deny any trade, and while I would probably be shunned by the Leafs community for holding this opinion, I’m still against trading the superstar winger (… except maybe for the right return).
Many like to point to the Calgary-Florida trade – which landed this year’s Stanley Cup Champions arguably their most important player in Matthew Tkachuk – as a model for success, but looking at the NHL trade landscape, that kind of player isn’t available right now. The only player that I would think long and hard about would be the other Tkachuk, Brady, for his similar playoff-tailored skillset, but that trade will never happen between Ontario rivals.
Still, a loss from a Marner trade would be a disaster for this Leafs team. But you would have cap space! The Leafs had cap space this year, and they walked away with an aging Chris Tanev as well as Oliver Ekman-Larson, fine additions but hardly ones that will equate to a Marner.
Yes, I know that Marner hasn’t lived up to expectations in the playoffs. Regardless, the burden of carrying the team shouldn’t fall squarely on his shoulders. Realistically, no single player should be expected to “carry” a team at all. Hockey is a team sport: a single member plays, at maximum, 25 minutes in a 60-minute game. Marner’s supporting cast needs to be better.
The biggest issue with this team isn’t the money spent on the big superstars – it is the over-reliance on those stars. While star players should be a dominating force in the playoffs, teams are built specifically to stop the domination of top-level talent. I argue that the second and third lines are even more important in the playoffs than the first line.
Yes, Toronto’s back-end feels a bit weak as well, but the crux of the issue seems to be the money allocation in the lower part of the lineup. David Kämpf at two million dollars plus, Calle Järnkrok at another two million plus, and Ryan Reaves barely above the league minimum all felt like inefficient resource allocation.
It’s in these roles where I think there should be more tinkering, instead of with the players at the top. Let the Core Four, consisting of William Nylander, Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Marner, be relieved of some of the pressure. It seems beat into those players that they have to be defensively solid in the playoffs – and to their credit they have been – but that’s not what they’re paid to do. Instead, that role should be handled by lower-lineup players, so the stars can play free. If you still want them to be solid defensively, fine, but then the lineup needs to be filled with players who have more scoring punch than defensive emphasis. Right now, I believe this overlap is one of the biggest roster flaws this team has.
The Edmonton Oilers could be a model to follow. They are also a team of major stars, but there are players lower down in their lineup who had stellar campaigns too, like Philip Broberg, Dylan Holloway and Zach Hyman (whom the Leafs ironically let go). Those men are all mid-level players who can be relied on in big moments to step up, both when the superstars falter and also as additions to the offensive and defensive firepower already in the lineup. (As of Aug. 20 Broberg and Holloway have both been claimed as restricted free agents)
These are the types of players the Leafs are missing. Matthew Knies seems like he can be that type of player, but he’s still young. Max Domi could potentially be another if he can be consistent.
The Leafs didn’t sign any new forwards this offseason, so there seems to be a major reliance on the Core Four and internal progression from Domi and Knies. With a fanbase howling at the gates, that seems like a risky bet. Maybe they can add players at the deadline, but there is no guarantee the right type of player will be available.
The Leafs need to focus on signing that right type of player that complements their big investments, and people need to stop criticizing those investments in the first place. Yes, the Core Four hasn’t lived up to the standards they set in the regular season, but they haven’t had any help either. Some may say they are paid at such a high level because they shouldn’t need help, but if other players could help lower the burden, why wouldn’t the team look into them? A few star players’ failures are not excuses for other errors and flaws.
