The Toronto Maple Leafs earned three of a possible four points on the weekend, losing 3-2 in a shootout to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and defeating the Minnesota Wild 4-2 on Sunday, courtesy of two goals from call-up Benoit-Olivier Groulx. The 26-year-old has been impressive in his short stint with the Leafs, which once again calls into question the organizational roster management of both GM Brad Treliving and head coach Criag Berube.
Groulx is taking advantage of his opportunity to stake an early claim on a depth role with the Leafs next season and is continuing the scoring prowess he displayed with the AHL Marlies (27 goals in 54 games), but why was he or Jacob Quillan called up earlier or given more playing time by Berube. The 24-year-old Nova Scotia native has been primarily used as a fourth-liner and only in the past week has he seen more than 10 minutes of ice time.
It is known what Max Domi is up the middle, a poor defensive center, but you would think that the Leafs would like to know what they have in Quillan, who nearly topped his AHL scoring totals in half the games in his sophomore season. Calling up Michael Pezzetta, to drop the gloves on the opening faceoff and play 3:43, as he did against Anaheim, is pointless. Youngsters like Luke Haymes (who has 10 goals in the last 16 games for the Marlies), or William Villeneuve (23 points) would be constructive, but there is not much that this organization has been doing lately that has been constructive.
The Leafs should be focused on trying to get as low as possible in the standings to finish with a top-five pick; that is the most that can be accomplished from this disastrous season. But like they did in 2008 and 2009, when they had a chance to lose down the stretch to gain a chance at winning the lottery to draft Steven Stamkos and John Tavares, Toronto won meaningless games and in ‘08, they had to trade up to fifth overall to select Luke Schenn, when if they had done things right, they could have selected Stamkos, Drew Doughty, or Alex Pietrangelo.
In ‘09, the Leafs victory over Ottawa at the end of the season with Boyd Devereaux scoring a hat trick in his last NHL game, eliminated the chance of drafting Tavares, Victor Hedman, Matt Duchene, or Brayden Schenn; instead, Toronto fell to seventh overall to select playoff sabotager Nazem Kadri.
Wins and losses have consequences, even for teams not in a playoff race. The Leafs pick would give them the 10th pick at this point, which means it would go to Boston as part of the Brandon Carlo deal since it is only top-five protected. The one advantage that Toronto has is they have played two games more than all the teams directly below them in the league standings. Those clubs are six points or less behind Toronto, giving the Leafs a decent chance at finishing with a top-five pick and increasing their chances at winning the lottery for one of the top three picks…..if they stop piling up points.
The Leafs announced the signing of goalie Artur Akhtyamov to a three-year contract extension beginning at the start of the 2026-27 season. The 24-year-old has an 18-10-4 record with a 2.86 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage in 32 games with the Marlies this season and has an 11-2-2 record at Coca-Cola Coliseum this season.
The deal is a two-way contract for next season, followed by a one-way contract in 2027-28 and 2028-29, with a $900,000 AAV. The Leafs now have two young, promising goalies in the pipeline in Akhtyamov and Dennis Hildeby, which increases the possibility that one of Anthony Stolarz or Joseph Woll could be traded this summer.
