How Will the Toronto Maple Leafs Replace Mitch Marner’s Production This Season?

How Will the Toronto Maple Leafs Replace Mitch Marner’s Production This Season?

As the Toronto Maple Leafs prepare to start training camp, the biggest question may be, how do you replace Mitch Marner? David Morasudi of Locked On Leafs is here to talk about that and all things Leafs next on today’s Locked on NHL podcast. [Music] You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League. Part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. Gil Martin here. Welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Locked On NHL podcast. We are part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Locked on NHL your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. It is my pleasure to welcome back to the show the co-host of Locked on Leafs, David Morasudi. And uh David, it’s been an interesting off season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but I I guess the biggest question is how do you replace the productivity of a Mitch Martyr? I mean, it’s not easy, right? You’re talking about a guy who had his first 100 points season, right? 102 points, a valuable playmaker, played on the penalty kill as well. So, just brought that two-way ability. It’s going to be a lot of internal, right? They’re going to need some guys to take steps forward. You know, I look at a Matthew N, you know, they just gave him a a nice juicy contract extension. He’s someone that’s going to have to expected to play, you know, a bigger role. I I expect a guy like William Knander who, you know, he he signed an 11.5 million contract extension a year ago. He had he led the Leafs in goals. Now I think he’s going to have to do a little bit more. I think they’re going to have to trust him to do to take a bigger role um you know this off season. I look at a guy like Max Doi who you know hasn’t hasn’t exactly been the more most productive forward. you know, he’s filled in. He’s had to play so many different roles. I’m hoping that maybe, you know, if they can get him playing with Austin Matthews, he can he’s not going to get the Mner production, but if he even can get half of what Mitch Mner uh provided, I think it’s, you know, it at least help alleviate some of it. But yeah, I mean, it not many teams are able in this day and age are able to replace 102 point player. uh you know one that especially the left uh you know and you didn’t get much back in return. Is there one player in the Leafs lineup that you think will be hurt most by Marner’s departure? Everyone thinks it’s going to be Austin Matthews. There’s going to be a degree to it. Like you know when he scored 69 goals he played with Mner and he also didn’t play with Mner. So I I do think that there’s going to be an adjustment to Austin Matthews game. you know, he’s not going to have that premier playmaker. Now, they could give him another playmaker to work with. You know, they brought in Matias Michelli. Um, they brought in and they still have a Maxomi, two guys who are known as pass first playmaking type players. Um, I I I do think you I think the obvious answer would have been Austin Matthews just because of how those two worked together and they were the duo for so many years. So, I’ll probably stick with that because there’s really nobody else that Marner played with um that he had that as much of an impact on than Austin Matthews. What would you consider the best move that the Maple Leafs made this off season? Best move? you know, they some will probably say the resignings that they did with Tvaris and N, but I’m going to go a little different because they did make a nice trade um kind of a few weeks after free agency and they got Dakota Joshua from Vancouver uh for a fourth round pick, 2028 fourth round pick. Like you’re looking deep into the reserves on to what that could potentially be like like a player in terms of a prospect. But Dakota Joshua is it’s interesting because he was originally drafted by the Leafs. They weren’t going to be able to sign him. They traded him to St. Louis and obviously playing with Craig Breub in St. Louis. He had really good numbers in Vancouver when he played a you know a middle six role more as a third liner like he’s somebody that that once scored uh 18 goals in a season which doesn’t sound like a whole lot but as a a guy who contributed on a third line role playing that you know limited minutes and able to uh put up uh 18 goals I think is actually pretty good. He had eight points in 13 games the last time he was in the uh playoffs with Vancouver too. So like he is such a valuable lower in the lineup contributor which is something the Leafs des desperately need and his type of um the way he plays is exactly the type of player Craig Rubé loves. Hard hard to play against pain. He’s going to hit everything in sight. But what I like about him is as I said he’s not just a guy that’s going to do those the bring the physicality. He’s also going to pot you a couple goals, right? he can find some contributions lower in the lineup. So that’s where that’s where I do like that move. I you know, is it their best move? They really didn’t do that much, right? A lot of their moves were done last year. So I I do think that his addition is going to make a difference in helping provide an identity for that third line. Uh so I I do think that’s probably one of the more underrated moves that they did in the offseason. How important is getting John Tiveres back this year, especially at the hometown discount that he offered the team? Well, that’s it, right? The the hometown discount. Yeah, you gave a guy in his, you know, mid30s a four-year deal, but at a sweetheart number that, you know, with the cap going up, he could have gotten more. We’ve seen guys, you see what people made in in free agency right now out of the term that they got. And Tvarus didn’t want to do that. He wanted to stay in Toronto. Still getting a decent, you know, he just came off a deal where he got paid $11 million a year. He got his money. He’s still getting paid. It’s not like he went for league minimum. And what this does is it not only allows Leafs to do stuff, you know, have the cap space during the season. If they want to add some of the deadline, they can. But next year, if some of the free agents that we’re seeing for next year actually end up to the open market, Toronto’s going to have ample amount of cap space to go out and add. Like when we’re talking about losing a Mitch Mner, it’s going to sting for this year. But if you’re able to find a top free agent in next year, you’re going to thank John Tvarez for taking the contract that he did. Because even if down the road he becomes your third line center, maybe there’s a second line center that’s available or even a first line center like you know 1A 1B with Austin Matthews that you can go and get in free agency next year. It just allows for so much flexibility that it’s it’s probably the best contract that the Leafs have gotten signed with one of their current players because they finally lease finally got the player to to concede a bit and not take everything that they wanted. Training camp is approaching very soon, maybe a week and a half away. What are the biggest questions and concerns you have about this team as we get ready to open camp? Uh I obviously who’s going to play on the top line, who is taking Mitch Marner spot, right? That’s going to be the biggest question for Craig Rubé. He’s going to be asked about it. He’s going to probably try to skirt around the issue until he really has to properly name somebody. That’s probably the big one. The other one is, you know, the the blue line, right? Who’s going to They have a decent blue line, but can Morgan Riley bounce back? Is Morgan Riley, you know, was last year kind of a, you know, okay, not a great year, but let’s see if he can bounce back because he’s paid a decent amount of money and the production wasn’t there and he really struggled under Craig Ber. and they can Craper find a way to make Morgan Riley uh a better player than he was last year. Do you think that those two can be on the same page as far as the style they want to play? I think so. I think I think Brewer understood that he’s got to let Morgan Riley be a little more free as an offensive defenseman now that he has Brandon Carlo on his pairing is that’s I expect it to be. Last year they tried Taniv, but then now they wanted that Taniv uh McCabe shutdown pairing. So if you can get uh Riley to play with a Carlo and Carlo can help solidify that pairing defensively, maybe that takes a bit of pressure off of Morgan Riley to feel like he has to carry the burden in that role. So I I’m hoping that Crab doesn’t put too much of the onus on on Riley to be the defensive stalward of that prank. He isn’t going to be that. it is going to be a guy like Carlo. But I’m hoping that Morgan Riley understands that he needs to be better. I think he probably understands that himself, but they they do really need him to be a better version of himself. I do think, you know, I I do think that the, you know, Rubé really respects what Raleigh brings, but at the same time, he has, I think, clearly adjust his expectations for a player like Morgan Riley. be interesting to see how that plays out over the course of the season. David, why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you on social media. Yeah, you can find the Locked on Lee’s podcast, wherever you get your podcast. Um, you know, subscribe to us on YouTube. You can find myself on XD_Morsudi. Two S’s, two T’s. So, you can find me there and you can find uh my co-host Mike Dephano there, too. Mickey_Kuck. All right, David, thank you so much. Appreciate it, Gil. Thanks. Today’s episode is brought to you by your friends at FanDuel. The NFL season is almost here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your first bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using FanDuel because it fits the way I like to bet. You can use player props. You could put together a same game parlay or even jump in live as the action unfolds and it makes every game more exciting whether you’re watching your favorite team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. And if it wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets. fanuel.com. Check it out today.

The Toronto Maple Leafs must find a way to replace the production of Mitch Marner but did they do enough this offseason to do that?

David Morassutti of Locked On Leafs joins us to discuss the offseason, how the Maple Leafs will look to replace Marner and what it will take for Toronto to remain a Cup contender this season and beyond.

All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.

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