Laughton on the wing, Danford lineup chances, and Kunin’s fit on the Panthers: Leaflets

• Luke Kunin at league minimum the kind of sneaky upgrade the Panthers excel at.
• Ben Danford as a camp wildcard
• Scott Laughton in the top six

The last weekend of August. It’s a beautiful thing for hockey fans. It feels like the transition from the offseason to the preseason is occurring over the long weekend and it won’t be surprising to start getting some on ice footage of Leafs players in the coming days.

A lot of the offseason stuff hasn’t fully been put to bed. There is still some potential for training camp invites and the Leafs roster overflowing with bubble players certainly keeps the possibility open that the training camp attendees list isn’t written in ink just yet.

Here a few thoughts over the Labour Day weekend:

Florida gets it right with Kunin

The Panthers have a lot to sell potential candidates on. They are at the peak of their success, downtime involves a lot of fun in the sun vs. northern winters, and yes, the tax thing.

There are always going to be interested in playing on a good time in a good climate with South Beach also just being a short drive up the road. That said, Florida isn’t going to be short on applicants their lineup card and it seems like they made a smart choice with bringing in Kunin.

Kunin easily fits in as a fourth line centre on any team around the NHL with a number of teams likely viewing him as a potential 3C given their depth. He plays a physical style that will add value, he can penalty kill and is a safe bet for 10-15 goals. Past success with players like Nick Cousins makes Kunin seem like an easy fit and with Matthew Tkachuk being out until early 2026, accommodating Kunin into the lineup is easy.

Good teams find good options because usually the good options are approaching them.

While the Leafs are far more in a position to be clearing out an excess of bottom six players than looking to add more, it seems reasonable to consider who might still be available as a better fit over who they have. Kunin is a style fit as well as one of the more capable options that was available, and for the Leafs I wonder if someone like Brett Leason might be viewed as fit to consider if the Leafs look to move on from both Jarnkrok and Kampf.

On the backend it seems like Matt Grzelcyk is at least worth an inquiry even though depth defence isn’t a priority. Grzelcyk is still available and is potentially an upgrade over what the Leafs presently has depth. If Toronto represents an opportunity to win and earn a spot ahead of the Leafs presumed incumbents, Grzelcyk might be interested in a cheap one year deal as well.

GMs like Bill Zito and Kelly McCrimmon that relentlessly look for upgrades are going to have a higher rate of success and Brad Treliving needs to adopt some of that never satisfied approached.

Ben Danford as a camp wildcard

Maybe it’s optimism from the TLN prospect rankings or maybe it’s the fact that Ben Danford is invited to the Upper Deck Rookie Showcase that has me considering the possibility of Danford making a case for the lineup during Leafs camp, but I’ve decided to give this idea a little bit of air before hockey gives us a lot more talk about in the coming weeks.

Danford has accomplished a lot at the junior level and there won’t be a ton of new things for him to accomplish in the OHL. While a second post draft season in the OHL will potentially include a trip to the World Juniors, most of the year will be spent being a top defenceman on a solid team playing against players that are largely less talented or experienced than him. These are the same pitfalls of most draft picks and why putting a 19 year old on an AHL roster would have some appeal but no such luck this season.

Danford wouldn’t be behind as he’d really be in the same situation as every other prospect, but it is worth considering what if Danford has a strong camp for the Maple Leafs and doesn’t look out of place in the preseason. Is it worth keeping him around?

The Leafs still have nine games that give Danford in a Leafs jersey because burning a contract year. The Leafs are flooded with experienced defencemen that can offer some sheltering for their young prospect and as a right shot, Chris Tanev type, there is a style and handness fit that benefits the Leafs as well.

A lot of this might be over optimism and ignores that everyone develops different. It’s easy to say that getting reps in the NHL is a positive but that ignores the psychological impacts of figuring things out under a burning hot spotlight.

While the overripening of prospects will continue to be a thorn in my side, I’ll admit what I’m suggesting sounds a lot like rushing Danford and even I view it as an incredibly unlikely outcome.

That said, if Danford stands out in camp and injuries create a temporary opening on the Leafs right side that can afford Danford a limited run the Leafs should consider a sneak peak at their future and give Danford a sense of what he’s working towards back in the OHL for the rest of the year.

Laughton on Tavares’ wing

August lineup cards are fun because eventually everything starts looking like a good idea briefly and the second you test that thought publicly you are reminded that most people very much do not share your enthusiasm towards your suggestion.

Pretty much anything that keeps David Kampf in the Leafs lineup is likely to be received as a bad idea and putting Laughton on the wing likely does that. It also likely means that Nick Robertson and Calle Jarnkrok are out of the lineup and understandably a lot of people would rather give Nick Robertson a serious run than see more of David Kampf.

Nevertheless, here’s my case for looking at Laughton on Tavares’ wing:

• Laughton brings both physical and defensive zone attributes to a line featuring Tavares and Nylander that could benefit from someone handling the offensive zone forecheck as well as acting as a reliable F1 in the defensive zone.
• Laughton brings his experience as a centre to a line where there is some debate about how long Tavares will continue in the centre role.
• It is more important to build an optimized second line than an optimized fourth line
• Offensively Laughton is a borderline second line player and has done well in a supporting role with the Flyers when given offensively gifted players to work with.

That doesn’t really answer the question of where the right fit for players like Maccelli, Joshua, McMann, and Robertson go, and if there is some appeal in forechecking winger riding with Tavares and Nylander, a case could be made for Joshua or McMann as well.

It might be the defensive zone coverage that intrigues me the most about Laughton and idea of being more comfortable with the Tavares line on ice in all situations against all competition has some merit even if this is just a late August lineup card scribble.