The Toronto Maple Leafs will undergo some organizational changes in the wake of another early exit, which will include potential departures, streamlining of the management structure, and roster adjustments. GM Brad Treliving will be reviewing where the club can improve, and most of the focus will be up front, where potentially one-half of the core group will be playing elsewhere next season.
Today, we’ll look at the Leafs future up the middle:
Toronto’s overall success did not go hand-in-hand with the performance of their centers, as Auston Matthews had the worst goal-scoring year of his NHL career (33 goals) and was plagued with an unspecified injury that occurred at training camp. It is a testament to Matthews character that he toughed it out through the season and played extremely well defensively and on draws, but his preference to not reveal the nature of the injury and that he will not have surgery in the offseason has brought about some criticism, since he was equally ineffective at scoring in the playoffs (3 goals in 13 games).
For as much as Matthews struggled, veteran John Tavares stepped up, scoring 38 goals — the most since his debut season with Toronto — in the final year of his seven-year contract, tying for the club lead in power play and game-winning goals. Despite finishing second on the team with five postseason goals, Tavares, like the rest of the core group, disappeared in the final four games of the Florida series. The debate over whether to bring the 34-year-old back seems silly, based on the fact that both sides are interested in a new deal and appear willing to take a team-friendly extension to stay in Toronto. The fact that the free agent market is thin on centers has to be another factor in any decision.
The bottom-six situation up the middle is wanting, to say the least. Max Domi in the first year of a four-year extension, had a career-worst eight goals and continues to be a defensive liability at center. Domi’s playmaking ability is good, and makes him less troublesome on the wing, but the other options up the middle forced head coach Craig Berube to use him at center in the postseason.
David Kampf also had a weak and underwhelming season (5 goals in 59 games) and does not appear to be a favorite of Berube, which forced the Leafs to dip into the deadline trade market for an upgrade, but the deal to acquire Scott Laughton from Philadelphia was a bad one since the price was obscene for a fourth line center (Nikita Grebenkin and a 2027 first round pick).
Pontus Holmberg played center at times and is someone that Berube likes for his defensive ability and tenacity, but there is not much scoring there. With the trade of prospect Fraser Minten to Boston in the Brandon Carlo deal, there are not many options within the organization. Alex Steeves is an unrestricted free agent and has been deserving of a legitimate NHL shot for a couple years, but may never get it in Toronto. Jacob Quillan had a good second half with the Marlies and could get a look at training camp.
Future Outlook
Toronto will have to cross their fingers that Matthews heals up from whatever ailed him over the summer. It is hard to imagine that GM Brad Treliving will not get a deal done with Tavares over the next month, as long as both sides are reasonable.
Domi should never play center again and would be a good candidate to replace Mitch Marner alongside Matthews, with whom he played well with at the end of the 2023-24 season and into the playoffs. Laughton has a year remaining and is a better fit as a fourth-line center than elevated in the lineup. Kampf is a candidate to be traded with two years remaining with a low cap hit. A buyout would only save the Leafs just over $700,000 the next two seasons, and they would save more by sending him down to the AHL.
It is likely that Treliving will be looking for a middle-six center in free agency. If Sam Bennett gets to the open market, it would make perfect sense for the Leafs to be all-in on him, but if he stays with the Panthers, they could be in the bidding for someone like Brock Nelson.
