The question of whether the Toronto Maple Leafs spoke to prospects at the 2025 Scouting Combine was asked frequently on Saturday, but there were not as many of the nearly 90 prospects in Buffalo, NY, who acknowledged in the affirmative. Part of the reason is because that the Leafs do not have a first-round pick, but the other reason is that some of the prospects met with the club in an after-combine meeting in Toronto.
The Leafs dealt their first rounder in 2023 to Chicago in the Jake McCabe / Sam Lafferty deal, but do have a second and third round pick amongst the six selections later this month. The second could be the last pick in that round, as it was acquired from the Florida Panthers in Las Vegas last June in a swap of picks where the Leafs sent their 2024 second-round pick to Florida and got a 2024 seventh-round pick (Nathan Mayes) in the swap.
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Congrats to Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery, who won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year after leading the Caps to the best record in the Eastern Conference at 51-22-9. The former Leafs assistant from 2021 to 2023 under Sheldon Keefe had 81 first-place votes. Leafs head coach Craig Berube finished 10th in voting.
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Ehlers Rumors
It is not going out on a limb that the Leafs are losing Mitch Marner on July 1, but what is unknown is what GM Brad Treliving will do to replace him. One idea is signing Winnipeg Jets winger Nikolai Ehlers. The talented Dane is coming off a 63-point season with the Jets, but the one downside is that the 29-year-old is not known for his durability.
He missed 13 games last season and suffered a foot injury late in the regular season after colliding with an official.
While it is possible that Treliving looks for a skilled winger to fill Marner’s spot on the right side, it does not fit the “changing the DNA” blueprint set by Treliving, so the chances of an Ehlers signing are long.
