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 on the right side:
Toronto benefited from having a pair of All-Star right wingers posting career years last season, with Mitch Marner scoring 102 points, and William Nylander finishing second in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy to Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl with 45 goals, but under head coach Craig Berube, the bottom six forwards were a revolving door positionally, especially on the right side.
Pontus Holmberg seemed to be a Berube favorite because of his work ethic and lack of hesitancy of going into the dirty areas. The 26-year-old Swede can play both center and the right side, and absorbed a great deal of punishment against the Florida Panthers.
Once he returned from a lengthy sports hernia injury, veteran Calle Jarnkrok settled in on the right side of the fourth line with Scott Laughton and Steven Lorentz, but the 33-year-old who once scored 20 goals with Toronto was not present for the over 30 games he played at the end of the season and the playoffs. He worked hard and played adequately defensively, but only scored one goal and eight points on the regular and postseason.
Jarnkrok replaced Ryan Reaves in the lineup after he was sent to the AHL to clear cap space. The three-year deal that Treliving signed the well-traveled enforcer in 2023 did not age well….actually it was a horrific error from the word go, since the 38-year-old provided almost no deterrence from other teams playing physically against Toronto and is so slow that he continued to be a liability every time he stepped on the ice.
The Future Outlook
As for what the Leafs will do on the right side, they have the stability of Nylander going into year two of an eight-year deal next season. Marner, coming off a career yea,r is almost certainly gone after another disappearing act in the playoffs. His intransigence about negotiating a new deal during the season and waiving his no-movement clause before the deadline are signs that he has never been interested in re-signing with the Leafs, even if he got more money than Auston Matthews, but honestly if he did want to come back, it appears from an outside perspective that Treliving does not want him back.
Holmberg is a restricted free agent eligible for arbitration, but based on his two-way ability, it is likely that the Leafs will offer him a multi-year extension. Jarnkrok ($2.1 million) and Reaves ($1.35 million) have a year left on their deals and are likely buyout candidates, but while Toronto does not save much against the cap with a Jarnkrok buyout ($516,667) because of a signing bonus, the Leafs would save $900,000 buying out the final year of Reaves’ deal.
Other than the signing of free agents or making a trade to replace Marner, the Leafs are likely to give 2023 first-rounder Easton Cowan every opportunity to make the lineup at training camp. Coming off another sparkling playoff performance, the 20-year-old won nearly every postseason award and the Memorial Cup with the London Knights, but that does not mean he is ready for prime time just yet.
Treliving cannot assume that Cowan will be ready to take over to start the season and that time in the AHL will be needed, so in all likelihood, the Leafs will need a top six winger and another in the bottom six.
