Maple Leafs News & Rumours: Blankenburg, Tanev, Stecher, Sundin & Matthews

Blankenburg also gives Toronto some versatility. He played 49 games with the Nashville Predators last season before being moved to the Colorado Avalanche and finished his time with the Predators with 21 points. More important than the numbers, though, is that he has shown he can handle different situations and play responsibly at both ends of the rink.

A professional tryout (PTO) wouldn’t mean the Leafs have decided he’s their guy. It would simply give head coach Jim Hiller and his staff a chance to see what he’s got. That’s a pretty inexpensive experiment.

That’s probably the way Toronto should approach this. The team doesn’t have to find another Tanev if he isn’t ready. They need another option. Should Tanev receive the green light, Blankenburg can still compete for a depth job and perhaps force his way into the conversation. Without Tanev, the PTO suddenly becomes much more important.

The Maple Leafs have enough bodies on defence that they don’t need to overreact. But bringing in one more player who can skate, think and compete seems like a pretty sensible insurance policy. But keeping him around, if that’s possible, could turn into this season’s Troy Stecher story.

Mats Sundin’s Return Adds Another Chapter to His Maple Leafs Legacy

Mats Sundin has always been one of those names that belongs near the top of any conversation about the modern Maple Leafs. Now that he’s back with the organization as a senior executive adviser, his connection to the franchise becomes interesting all over again.

Sundin spent more than a decade in Toronto, wore the captain’s C for 10 seasons and was the player the organization leaned on through some pretty demanding years. He never brought a Stanley Cup back to Toronto, but it’s difficult to talk about the Maple Leafs of the 1990s and 2000s without talking about Sundin.

The timing is particularly interesting because Auston Matthews has already passed Sundin as the Maple Leafs’ all-time goal-scoring leader. Matthews is clearly writing his own chapter in Toronto history, and there’s a very good chance he will eventually leave Sundin behind in a number of the franchise’s statistical categories. But that’s not quite the same thing as replacing him historically.

Sundin wasn’t just a scorer. He was the captain, the face of the franchise and, for an entire generation of fans, the Maple Leaf on the blue and white sweater. That’s a different kind of legacy.

Now Sundin is back in the room. That’s the part I find most interesting. He once had the responsibility of carrying the Maple Leafs on the ice. Now he’s able to contribute from a completely different perspective. For an organization that has spent years trying to balance its enormous history with the demands of modern NHL hockey, having somebody like Sundin around is valuable.

Matthews may ultimately become the defining franchise player of this generation, but Sundin remains one of the defining figures of the modern franchise. Having him involved again makes his story a little less about what he did as No. 13 and a little more about what he might still contribute.

What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?

The Tanev situation is the one that could have an immediate effect on the roster. Toronto doesn’t need to assume the worst, but the organization would be wise to have a contingency plan ready. That’s where somebody like Blankenburg makes sense. A PTO costs the team very little and gives them another player to evaluate. If Tanev is healthy, great. If he isn’t, Toronto has already done some of the homework.

The Sundin story is different. It doesn’t change the lineup, but it does say something about the organization. The Maple Leafs aren’t simply building a new team; they’re trying to create some continuity between the franchise they were and the franchise they want to become. Sundin is a pretty good bridge between those two worlds. If Matthews eventually becomes the greatest statistical player in franchise history, having Sundin around while that happens somehow seems appropriate.