Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs need to make some clear changes if they want next season to go right.
Outside of the NHL playoff picture with a 31-29-13 record and 75 points, the Leafs thought if they get bigger and stronger, they’d make the playoffs. That didn’t work.
Now, I don’t think the players that analysts keep throwing out for shock value like Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies need to be dealt, at least if the Leafs are sure to be a contender, but there are clear areas where Toronto needs a change.
The four Leafs players who need to go
I’ve never been completely sold on Anthony Stolarz as the Toronto Maple Leafs starter. Even after his breakout season last year, entrusting Stolarz as the starter came with clear questions.
Some people don’t get how hard it is to become a starter, especially as a late bloomer. It very rarely happens. Sure, Turk Broda is proof it can happen, but that was decades ago.
Stolarz, a career backup, never showed in his career except for his cup winning season in Florida that he might have potential to be a guy who can be a quality backup, but he’s never played more than just 28 games in a season prior to becoming the Leafs #1.
After looking the part for Toronto last season with a dominant 21-8-3 record and .926 SV%, Stolarz’s numbers have tanked to a 9-9-3 record and a .894 SV%. Joseph Woll has been the stronger of the two.
Even now, Stolarz has appeared in two seasons in Toronto in 34 and 23 games respectively. Stolarz has never been proven in heavy starter minutes, and after years of splitting goalies, the Leafs need nothing more than a true #1, and a 32-year-old Stolarz has held mixed results.
Two things challenge the Leafs commiting to Stolarz, besides the results. One is his upcoming four-year contract starting next season at $3.75M, which will take him to 36.
The other wild card is Dennis Hildeby. The 24-year-old will still be waiver exempt next season, but he’s earned his chance at NHL minutes with a 2.84 GAA and .912 SV% in 19 games with the Leafs this season.
Whether Joseph Woll becomes the answer in net, which I’m not sold on either, at least long-term. Anthony Stolarz being the starter for the next four years isn’t something to bet on.
The Toronto Maple Leafs cannot trust in Chris Tanev, at least with where things stay right now between the two sides.
Tanev, 36, was limited to just 11 games this season for Toronto, and signed until 2030, four more years at $4.5M, it’s hard to see the Leafs willing to keep that contract going unless Tanev becomes a permanent LTIR player.
Having rejected surgery for his injury and continuing to skate until having no choice, Tanev has made clear he wants to keep playing, but his body is beginning to go.
Buying out Tanev’s contract would put his deal on the books for the next four years, but Toronto will have to be looking how to get out of that contract.
A buyout would be hard to see, given that he’s clearly still valued by Brad Treliving, but it’s highly uncertain if Chris Tanev can keep going for the next four seasons, much less next.
Calle Jarnkrok hasn’t looked like an NHLer this season, and as someone who still believed in his fourth line potential to start the year, he’s seemingly gone into the night.
The 34-year-old has six goals and eight points in 48 games. It would not be a surprise if he’s back in his native Sweden next season. He started off incredibly hot with three goals in the first three games but then trailed off considerably.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a secondary need for depth on defense, and finding an upgrade on Simon Benoit as a third-pairing/7D option.
Benoit has been a replacement level defenseman over the past two seasons, and Toronto needs someone with a bit more potential to be an everyday option.
Benoit is clearly expendable, and the 27-year-old with one more year after this season on his contract would be worth seeing if he can be moved for a late pick.
The Leafs need to add a big fish on defense this offseason, but with the amount of injuries this season, they need to add a more reliable depth blueliner.
Max Domi is a name I would’ve said in the past to move on from, but he’s shown he can still be a physical pest when he wants to be. His contract could be worth moving to balance a deal for a well-priced player, but he’s not the worst player to have in a lineup, especially with the Leafs need for grit.
The coaching staff isn’t off the hook
I’ll make a potential controversial opinion. I don’t think Craig Berube needs to be let go by Toronto, at least before Brad Treliving.
More anything, it’s Treliving’s roster construction than deserves the greater critique, but Berube has failed to get the physical team that Treliving wanted out of Toronto.
But someone in the coaching staff should be replaced, and it’s assistant coach Mike Van Ryn.
Van Ryn, a former Leaf, is on the end of one of my earliest hockey memories, being crushed into the glass by Milan Lucic, followed up by a worrisome hit from Tom Kostopoulos, and a month after that suffered a concussion at the hands of Lucic. It’s no surprise Van Ryn retired shortly after.
In charge of the Leafs defense, Van Ryn has seen a defense that has regressed, and struggles to generate chances and this season has been 31st in goals against.
Berube is on the ropes, but they need an upgrade on the defensive end from Van Ryn. Mark Giordano has been working as a coaching advisor for Toronto, he’s worth a try.
The front office needs accountability too
Brad Treliving’s roster has not only underperformed, but the roster he built isn’t playing the way he had wanted them to.
The plan for a more physical, engaged team has been largely the opposite. And in while playing more defensively, the Leafs have struggled to find their offense.
One area of improvement is depth scoring, but Toronto still needs a bit more offense in the bottom-six. He also needs a bounceback from Auston Matthews next season.
In the wait, AGM Brandon Pridham has been looked at by other teams for a GM position. As an experienced NHL executive, he isn’t walking into the league with more experience than Kyle Dubas, but still in that analytical sense.
Brad Treliving may be the likeliest person in the Leafs organization gone after this season, not just for a weak product on the ice, but poor decisions off of it.
Previously on Hockey Patrol