Being that it’s Monday and the news emanating from the weekend provides multiple topics, we will be starting what will be playfully be called my Monday Maple Leafs Musings. The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off two victories in their three games in four nights surrounding American Thanksgiving, but that has only served to keep their 2025-26 regular season chances alive.
Here are some random items, thoughts, and rampant speculation:
Goaltending Suddenly Solid
You could say that it’s head coach Craig Berube stressing the club being more defensively responsible, but the Leafs goaltending situation all of sudden does not seem to be so dire. The claiming of Cayden Primeau before the season and the decision to rely heavily on Anthony Stolarz has affected Toronto’s post-season aspirations.
Yes, Primeau went 2-1-0 in the three games he played in the second of back-to-backs, but as it has firmly been established, Stolarz cannot be depended on to play a starting goalie’s workload. It’s what led to his knee injury last December that kept him out for two months, and it does not take a rocket scientist to conclude that playing 13 games before his mysterious upper-body injury on November 11 made him vulnerable to injury again.
What makes the Primeau and heavy use of Stolarz decisions even worse is that both were made instead of giving a slightly heavier workload to Dennis Hildeby, who was excellent in training camp. We will never know why or who made those choices, but Hildeby earned his first victory of the season against the Penguins on Saturday and has a .914 save percentage in a limited window.
As for Joseph Woll, my stance for the last two seasons remains. The most important thing to determine is whether Woll can be the Leafs primary starting goalie, and his performance over the last two weeks is an indicator that can be and should be given the lion’s share of the workload, even when Stolarz returns.
It’s Nice To Get Depth Scoring, Isn’t It?
The Leafs can depend on steady production from their core group, but they also need secondary scoring to fill the gaps when the likes of Matthews, Nylander, Tavares, and Knies do not put the puck in the net. The club’s season-high output on Saturday is a perfect illustration of that. Matthews did score his 10th of the season, and Nylander made a great pass on Easton Cowan’s go-ahead goal in the first, but Toronto got goals from Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Bobby McMann, Dakota Joshua, Nicolas Roy, and Nick Robertson.
You cannot expect that on every night, but these players have to kick in the occasional goal as support players.
Danford To WJC?
The Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis projected the roster for Team Canada for the upcoming World Junior Championships in Minnesota later this month, and he believes Leafs 2024 first-rounder Ben Danford will be selected. The 19-year-old righty was traded from Oshawa to Brantford last month and has 12 points (1 goal, 11 assists) in 20 games, but will be depended on to be a shutdown defender than for his offense.
Roster-for-Roster Trade
Augello, the Trade Machine, is at work here. Where could the Leafs make a player-for-player deal, with trade season likely open. There are only five teams that right now you could put in the category of being willing to make that kind of move. Buffalo in the East, Calgary, Nashville, Vancouver, and St. Louis in the West.
The problem is that in both conferences, the standings are so tightly compacted that no one is out. That being said, there are other factors. Buffalo will never make a consequential deal with Toronto. The Sabres would rather trade with Satan than with the Maple Leafs.
Put Calgary in that category as well. Brad Treliving tried to get defensive help two years ago, but the Flames asked for the higher-than-expected price for Nikita Zadorov and Chris Tanev. If the Leafs were interested in Rasmus Andersson or Nazem Kadri, that would likely be the case again.
Vancouver is reportedly asking for a first-round pick for Kiefer Sherwood (pass), and is open to trading anyone, supposedly. Acquiring Quinn Hughes would be great, but he is not signing in Toronto after the 2026-27 season, so it is not worth the price you would have to pay. Evander Kane…..just avoid that disaster. Maybe the Leafs would be interested in David Ka……never mind.
That leaves St. Louis and Nashville. The Blues talk always revolves around Brayden Schenn. He’s 34, only has nine points in 26 games and has two more seasons at $6.5 million. Short of Doug Armstrong eating 50% of his deal, the Leafs probably would look at other options.
The Preds…..Ryan O’Reilly played well in Toronto, but clearly does not want to play in a big media market and even though he does not have any trade protection, reportedly GM Barry Trotz is giving the veteran some say in where he could go to. Luke Evangelista would be intriguing, and Nashville had trouble getting him signed, but he is having a good season (4 goals, 13 assists in 24 games), so he would not come cheap.
How about a guy who has played for Toronto before, who has had success in Blue and White playing in a top-six role with Auston Matthews, and is on an expiring contract. That’s right, folks. My target would be Michael Bunting. The same Michael Bunting that the Leafs decided to move on from after the 2023 season, in spite of scoring 23 goals in consecutive seasons and being a Calder Trophy finalist. He has played for Carolina, Pittsburgh and Nashville the last two-plus seasons, and has 13 points with a struggling Predators club.
His $4.5 million salary might necessitate Trotz retaining to make a deal with anyone work, but the Preds are likely looking for an NHL player in return instead of future. Does Matias Maccelli work for that type of deal….maybe, since he makes $3.425 million this season, but someone like Robertson, who clearly does not fit Berube’s coaching style, would be a player that Nashville would have interest in.
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