Here’s something new for the Maple Leafs.
From a contract standpoint, there’s nothing hanging over the club heading into 2025-26 regarding its marquee players, unlike last year and the Mitch Marner situation.
Three years remain for captain Auston Matthews. It’s seven for William Nylander, six for Matthew Knies, four for John Tavares and five for Morgan Rielly, Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe.
Goalie Anthony Stolarz could be considered the outlier, but both he and the Leafs are confident a new deal will be done relatively soon.
Our takeaways from Day 2 of Leafs camp on Friday:
DIFFERING OPINIONS
Out in Edmonton, there’s growing consternation as each day goes by and Oilers captain Connor McDavid hasn’t put his name on a new contract.
In Vancouver, the desire of the Hughes brothers to play together in the NHL has thrown Quinn Hughes’ future with the Canucks into question.
The Leafs didn’t let the potential of losing Marner bother them a year ago, recording 108 points in winning the Atlantic Division title. Whether or not Marner was leaving (and by then, it must have been fairly clear) wasn’t why the Leafs lost to Florida in the second round.
Can a lingering issue work its way into the room and impact a team’s performance?
“Honestly, I think it’s less than you think,” John Tavares said. “There are things that can be storylines or topics for fans, the people that love the game. But you get so in tune with the guys that are in the locker room and messages that the coaching staff and management are preaching.
“Maybe it’s a bigger deal if the room isn’t as strong. I just think it’s important keeping the focus on where it needs to be. It’s a lot of noise. It’s understandable why people want to talk about it.”
Defenceman Brandon Carlo went through it last year in Boston with the Bruins before he was traded to the Leafs. All of the talk in Beantown centred on captain Brad Marchand and his future with the team. The Bruins and Florida Panthers then dropped a bomb at the NHL’s trade deadline, and we don’t have to rehash what followed.
“Overall, I think the less noise that’s around the group, the better,” Carlo said. “As a whole, though, I think it’s great that we know what we have here.”
Forward Steve Lorentz chimed in, as well.
“Oh, it’s nice,” Lorentz said. “There are no more added questions. No question marks going into the season.”
Coach Craig Berube weighed in with this: “I didn’t feel it affected our team last year. But I’m not in everybody’s heads either, right? It is true, we don’t have that lingering around. I think that Mitch being gone, there’s more opportunity for more guys on the team to step up and play a bigger role.”
Matthews was on the same page as Tavares.
“I don’t really think any of the outside stuff was a distraction last year, and it’s definitely not a distraction this year,” Matthews said.
He then added with a smile: “Maybe you guys will ask a couple of more Mitchy questions here for the next couple of weeks, but hopefully that’ll die down shortly.”
It’s human nature to wonder what’s going to become of a teammate that carries the significance that Marner did.
We figure that the absence of anything similar with the Leafs this season will only help.
A HEALTHY MATTHEWS
This was Matthews on his latest self checkup: He’s doing well.
After missing 15 games last season with an undisclosed ailment, and vowing at season’s end to be “100%” by the time camp started, his physical engagement in the battle drills has been on display.
“I’m super-happy with how I feel and just how the first two days have gone,” Matthews said. “That’s all you can ask for. You never really know until you get back out and you can do everything in the summer and train and skate. Once you get back into this kind of feeling, you want to respond and feel really good and I definitely have.”
For now, Leafs Nation, it’s safe to exhale.
As for the absence of Marner, how Matthews gels with his new right winger, whether it’s Max Domi or Matias Maccelli, Berube was honest in his assessment.
“The give-and-go game, that’s where he’s going to miss Mitch the most, in my opinion,” Berube said. “They had great chemistry on that side of things.
“Auston might take another step, and he might start hanging on to pucks more and beating people himself one-on-one and things like that. They might have to change and be a little more direct.
“Defensively, it’s about finding the guy that can fill the role too with Mitch on that line. It’s going to take some time see where it ends up.”
Keep this in mind too: The Leafs team that starts the season won’t be the same that hits the ice after the March trade deadline. There’s enough time to get it right.
LINEUP ISSUES
No sign yet of Domi, though Berube said the forward is “doing well” as he recovers from a lower-body injury.
Berube said he wasn’t sure if Domi would make his camp on-ice debut on Saturday.
What we can glean from Domi’s absence in regard to the lines is that, for the most part, they’re set. We say this with an asterisk, leaving room for further injuries in camp.
Once Domi is back, the expectation is he will slide on to the left side with Matthews and Matthew Knies, bumping Maccelli. John Tavares is flanked by Bobby McMann and William Nylander.
On the third line, Nicolas Roy has been between Dakota Joshua and Easton Cowan. Maccelli would be in Cowan’s spot upon Domi’s return.
Scott Laughton is centring Lorentz and Nick Robertson. A fifth line, which would work in most NHL clubs’ top 12, has David Kampf between Michael Pezzetta and Calle Jarnkrok.
There has been good intensity in camp, but it doesn’t necessarily translate to job battles throughout the lineup. The biggest one is for the right wing on the fourth line. Can Robertson demonstrate enough defensive responsibility, or will Berube trust Jarnkrok more in that spot?
On the power play, Berube confirmed something that should surprise no one: With Marner gone, Morgan Rielly will be back with the first group, putting an end to the Leafs’ five-forward No. 1 unit.
“He has done it in the past, and they’ve had success,” Berube said. “So for me, it’s him right now.”
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