For better or worse, this year’s Maple Leafs team will be different

The Toronto Maple Leafs are about to enter a new era for this iteration of the franchise.

It has been well past obvious that things were going to change for the team at the end of their pivotal second-round series against the Florida Panthers. But after getting blown out 6-1 in Game 5 and Game 7, the fans voiced their frustrations in the arena that they were tired of the status quo and wanted to see a shakeup. That is exactly what they got when the news dropped that Brendan Shanahan’s contract would not be renewed, signaling that there will now be real consequences for failing to pull through when it matters.

“I respect, understand, and appreciated their disappointment in the way the season ended,” MLSE CEO Keith Pelley said on May 23rd. “I thank them for it, I thank them for the way they’ve invested in the team, and I understand to our fans that winning is the only thing that matters. I think I said to you last year that good simply isn’t good enough. That’s the case here.”

While Mitch Marner’s exit from the organization was not entirely a surprise, it did signal the end of the Core Four era for the Leafs. A period where the team conducted a flawed experiment of allocating over half of their cap space to four forwards and refused to adjust when COVID-19 flattened the salary cap for several years. It was far from a smooth exit for Marner, to put it lightly, but it was ultimately what was best for him and the team at this time.

With one-fourth of the Core Four now a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, things will never be the same for the Leafs, for better or for worse.

There is no denying that the absence of #16 does take a bite out of the Leafs’ offensive output and they will miss his usefulness in all aspects of the game. But while Marner was able to do a lot in Toronto, that doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone left to fill the void. Nicolas Roy, the return piece in the Marner sign-and-trade, is a useful piece who can slot in wherever he is needed and has the added benefit of being able to take faceoffs. Max Domi and Matias Maccelli will each get a shot at setting up Auston Matthews on the top line, adding in some of those playmaking abilities throughout the lineup.

The freed-up cap space allowed the Leafs to allocate their spending towards shoring up the bottom half of the lineup. Head coach Craig Berube has envisioned the third line to start the year being Dakota Joshua, Roy, and Maccelli, and that has the makings of being the best third line the team has iced in over half a decade. When Scott Laughton recovers from his lower-body injury, he should make up one-third of a more effective fourth line in terms of usefulness and effectiveness. And having some younger options such as Easton Cowan, Jacob Quillan, and Luke Haymes be in consideration to get some NHL minutes sometime this season helps in shoring up the pipeline.

While the top half of the roster is fairly similar to what was iced before, the pecking order from a salary perspective has dramatically altered. John Tavares accepted a hometown discount to remain a Leaf, while Matthew Knies got a pay raise that was reasonable for all parties involved. Both will continue to be important cogs in the machine, but the way they are judged is going to be different because of how much they now make per season. No doubt the pressure on Matthews and William Nylander is going to increase now that Marner is gone and Tavares’ cap hit has gone down, but there is enough evidence to suggest these two can, at the very least, rise to the occasion.

There will be more familiarity with Berube’s system from the backend that remains unchanged, but you can expect to see their utilization slightly altered. One of the areas the team addressed after their loss to the Panthers was the need to improve their puck movement from the blueline, with Morgan Rielly leading the charge. Speaking of which, he makes his way back to the top power-play unit that will revert to the four-forward setup that they used to run for a few years. An increased willingness to get into the play when necessary and utilizing his shot will help change the perception around Rielly, who is currently being viewed in a negative light by parts of Leafs Nation.

Even with all of the uncertainty surrounding Joseph Woll, the goalie tandem should look a little bit different from where things stood last season. Anthony Stolarz has a new extension and the desire to build off a successful 2024-25 season. Dennis Hildeby looked sharp in the preseason and should be getting more opportunities than he did the year prior. And while it’s unlikely Cayden Primeau gets much action, he has shown enough flashes that he can be a servicable fill-in at the very least.

Let’s not forget that the roster that the Leafs ice on opening night will look different from what they use down the stretch and into the playoffs (assuming they qualify for a 10th straight season). GM Brad Treliving has stressed the need to add a top-six forward and has yet to trade for one at the time of filing, so a move could come in the coming months. Whoever that player ends up being will certainly change the makeup of the lineup and how Berube opts to construct the lines.

How things play out this season remains to be seen, and it is far from a guarantee that it will have better results than what fans have been accustomed to for nearly a decade. What can’t be argued is that this version of the Leafs is different from what they were a year ago, and now it is up to the players to show how they respond to a post-Marner and post-Shanahan world.