Now what?: 67 stray thoughts on the Toronto Maple Leafs ...Middle East

TORONTO — Oh, we’re not done.

We’re never done.

We’ll scribble about free agency and the draft and the new assistant coach and the late-summer PTO hopefuls and all that.

But before we flip our attention to the final teams contending for the Stanley Cup, let’s empty the ol’ 2024-25 Toronto Maple Leafs notebook.

Here are 67 stray observations on the team that was and what might be.

1. Morgan Rielly was only speaking about the final series, but his words perfectly summed up the season. Heck, they crystallized this entire era:

“The difference between our best and our worst was too much.”

2. Auston Matthews describes 2024-25 as “a roller coaster” healthwise, as his undisclosed upper-body injury hindered all aspects of his game, including his shot.

It’s hard to imagine a guy with a bad wrist winning a career-high 56.8 per cent of his faceoffs. But we’re guessing.

Whatever the ailment is, it certainly affected his shot. Matthews posted a career-low 33 goals, and his 12.6 shooting percentage this season fell off a cliff from the 18.7 per cent accuracy he was firing at during his 69-goal campaign.

Most telling: His 3.9 shots per game marks his lowest rate in six years.

3. Matthews did compensate for not using his greatest weapon by turning himself into a better facilitator. For just the second time in nine seasons, he had more assists (45) than goals. His 0.67 assists per game this season are a new best.

4. Matthews says he won’t need surgery to solve his mystery injury, which occurred way back at training camp. He also says that, with a few months of rest and treatment: “I’m really confident I’ll be back 100 per cent next season.”

Which begs the question: Why didn’t he take a longer break in-season to get 100 per cent healthy for the playoffs?

5. Why is Matthews keeping mum on the injury details even if it leads to speculation?

“Because I can. It is my right, I believe.”

He also believes opponents could target his weak spot.

6. Hypothetically, if a player has a bad back, he might not want the world to know that. There is a stigma to that.

7. Here’s Rielly on the version of Matthews he knows:

“I would say he’s different than what you guys see. But I also think that he has the right to do that, to be that. I don’t think he has to be everything he is to us when he’s standing here (in front of reporters). I think he has the right to that. And he’s an incredible person, and everyone cares about him, and he cares about everyone. And it’s hard to describe. I mean, he’s a great leader.”

8. Max Pacioretty on the captain: “He’s due for a vacation with how much hockey he’s played and how hard he’s worked.”

“(He) doesn’t neglect his end of the ice to go try and create. No matter what the narrative is out there and what the expectations are, he’s always trying to play winning hockey. I watched him during the (4 Nations) break while I was sitting on my couch and resting — watching him grind it out against the world’s best players.

“I have a whole new appreciation of superstardom after watching these guys go about their business day in and day out. There’s no shortcuts to being a superstar, right? Like, these guys put in the work every single day. And they care just as much, if not more, than anyone I’ve played with. And I’ll forever remember that.”

9. Pacioretty on his own injury, which sidelined him for the final weeks of the regular season: “Mid-to-upper-lower body.”

10. How have the Florida Panthers been able to establish a culture where there is no hierarchy between their superstars and their 14th forward?

“When you’re on a team that’s struggling a little bit,” Maurice begins, “and you walk into the meal room, it’s always the same players at the same tables. So, all the old guys at one table thinking that if the kids were better, we win. Some of the kids at one table thinking, Why don’t the older guys retire ’cause they’re taking all our money? There’s the disgruntled table that just hates you, as a coach. And there’s a couple other tables.

“But when you walk into this (Panthers) room, it’s different every day. I’m going to say — and it can’t be one guy — it is the Barkov Effect. You couldn’t walk into our room, I don’t believe, if you didn’t know anybody, and figure out who the best player was, by the way they interact.

Maurice uses fringe players and frequent scratches from the ’24 championship roster as an example.

“Ryan Lomberg and Josh Mahura were in on every joke, every chirp, everything. And if you’re in the room, you’re saying, ‘Well, that guy’s the captain. That guy’s the alternate captain.’ I don’t think you can figure that out in our room by the way they treat each other.”

11. How rare is it for an NHL room — which is naturally composed of men with varying egos and talent levels and ages and salaries — to establish a culture like that?

“When I got the job, I called all the players, and I kept getting off the phone saying, ‘These guys are different. They are really unusual,’” Maurice says.

“Carter Verhaeghe was one of the first guys I called. I wasn’t doing it alphabetically. We talked for a little bit — and it wasn’t a hockey call; it was just an introduction call — and he probably spent 80 per cent of the time telling me about the other players on the team: Wait till you meet this guy. He’s unbelievable. You gotta see his shot. He’s an awesome guy.

“And then he starts asking me: ‘You got kids? How old are they? What are they doing?’ They’re a different group of guys. It’s wonderful.”

What the heck do these Panthers thoughts have to do with the Leafs? Lots.

12. RFA Nick Robertson requested a trade after getting healthy-scratched for Game 7 in 2024.

What does RFA Nick Robertson think about getting scratched for games 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Round 1, plus games 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 in Round 2?

13. Rumour we’d like to believe is true: John Tavares was at the airport, ready to fly to Stockholm and join Team Canada for the world championships’ medal round last week.

But once he saw his country upset in stunning fashion by Denmark in the quarterfinals, he turned around and went home.

14. Hard to see anything wrong with going golfing three days after being eliminated from the playoffs. If anything, it’s great to see that teammates want to spend time with each other before flying their separate ways for summer.

Easy to see something wrong with sneak-snapping a photo of someone and posting it to social media anonymously as an attempt at public shaming.

15. Thing is, Matthews and Marner were two of the most impactful players for their respective teams in the 4 Nations medal game.

They have it in them to rise to the big moment, but we’ll never get to see them do it together.

16. When Matthews — a reserved, hardworking, lead-by-example type — inherited the captaincy last summer, he said it wouldn’t change him. We didn’t observe much change in how he went about his business.

The 27-year-old says he underwent a lot of growth in that department, leaning on Tavares and other veterans and getting “pushed” by Berube, whom Matthews describes as a great communicator.

The NHL captaincy might not be what it used to be, but there is still a leap from A to C.

“I definitely think a lot of steps were taken. And definitely very eye-opening. But just want to keep getting better in that area,” Matthews says.

17. Slap an A on Chris Tanev’s chest already, will ya?

18. Craig Berube wants the returning Leafs to arrive tougher in September. The coach’s parting message:

“Yeah, it hurts right now. It hurts. So, remember that throughout the summer, because it hurts. It takes a lot to win in this league, and it takes a lot of pain to win in this league.

“You go home this summer. You become tougher mentally and tougher physically, because you’re going to need it for next year.”

19. Berube is most proud of how the players bought into his playing identity, which differed from Sheldon Keefe’s more possession-based style, and how they achieved their stated goal of winning their first-ever Atlantic Division title.

The coach’s emphasis on winning tight games also resulted in Toronto’s fewest goals scored in an 82-game campaign (268) since 2016-17 (251).

20. Wait a second. You’re saying the Maple Leafs already need more scoring and they’re likely to lose their leading scorer, Mitch Marner, whose 102 points gave him 18 more than the next most productive Leaf (William Nylander)?

21. Florida will surely take a run at re-signing Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennett. But Treliving will at last consider bringing a couple of Ontario studs home if they make it to July 1 without a contract.

“They’re obviously guys who have a lot of success in their careers, and guys who have won a Stanley Cup,” says former Panther Anthony Stolarz. “That’s really not up for me to decide. It’s up to management. But I think every team around the league would want two guys like that.”

22. Treliving’s first draft pick as GM of the Calgary Flames was Bennett. He also traded the impact centre to Florida at the 2020 deadline.

How does the player describe his relationship with the executive?

“I like Tree a lot,” Bennett said during Round 2. “I have a pretty good relationship with him. So, yeah, I don’t really have much comment on that.”

23. Berube on the idea that the Panthers leveraged outside market pressure on Maple Leafs: “Pressure comes from inside the locker room. That’s it.”

24. I loved this Leon Draisaitl answer on the pressure of playing for a Canadian city:

25. They say Alex Ovechkin’s all-time goals record may never be beaten, but we’re not sure we’ll ever witness a sports team that makes the playoffs in nine straight seasons but never sees Round 3.

26. Berube elaborated on the mental hurdles his players failed to clear in Games 5 and 7 at home.

“There’s a lot of things that go through your mind in these big games,” he said. “And you may not have your A game in these games, but what you have to rely on is your structure.

“When I looked at the situations that arrived and hurt us in these games, we lost our structure. And that’s very important that we take this away and that we come back next year: Structure is very important. And if you don’t lose your structure, you can get through these games without having your A game.”

27. The sense is, Leafs fans want to see Nathan MacKinnon-level disappointment in press conferences from its leaders after all these early exits and long summers. Not everyone is built like MacKinnon, though.

28. David Kämpf, hardly a Berube favourite, has two more seasons on his contract at a $2.4-million cap hit, plus partial trade protection.

He played just 12:37 (in Game 5’s 6-1 loss to Florida) in the playoffs and can’t be satisfied with how things have gone for him since the coaching change. The veteran looks redundant with Scott Laughton positioned at 4C.

29. Bobby McMann will carry a career-long 24-game goal drought into 2025-26.

(And yet, McMann was a rare plus player on the Maple Leafs as Toronto got outscored 14-4 in Games 4 through 7 in Round 2.)

30. Pending RFA Pontus Holmberg set career highs in minutes and points (19). For the first time since moving to Canada, he was a full-time NHLer. And now he’ll have arbitration rights.

Holmberg is to Berube kinda what Alex Kerfoot was to Sheldon Keefe. The coach likes his flexibility and responsibility, even if the production can be underwhelming.

Holmberg registered a grand total of zero goals and one assist in 12 playoff games.

Treliving must view the 26-year-old as replaceable and can’t overpay to keep him. That’s what happened with Kämpf and Calle Järnkrok.

31. Anthony Stolarz confirms he suffered a concussion from Bennett’s elbow in Game 1.

The previous Sam Reinhart shot off the dome had no ill effect, he believes. He’s taken hundreds of pucks off the mask, which is designed to deflect impact.

At least publicly, Stolarz says he believes that Bennett’s elbow wasn’t malicious, and the former teammates chatted about the incident afterward.

“It’s a very fast game, and s—’s gonna happen,” Stolarz says. “So, I told him, basically, good luck.”

32. Getting whisked by ambulance mid-game for a head injury was not the most frightening experience of Stolarz’s hockey life: “I got my leg sliced open in junior, so that is probably a little more scary.”

33. Pacioretty will turn 37 in November. He sounds like a man who might have played his final game. It was tough living away from his wife and five children to chase a Cup this season.

He should be proud of his eight points — including Toronto’s only series-clinching goal — and team-leading 61 hits in the post-season. If this is indeed the end, the guy left it all out there.

“Just thankful that I got an opportunity to chase my dream,” Pacioretty said before packing up his locker.

34. Pacioretty, of course, was captain of the Montreal Canadiens in his prime.

“You probably don’t realize when you’re in it or when you’re younger, but it’s a privilege to have this many people care about how we do,” he says. “It kinda builds winners and turns you into men and helps you achieve who you’re ultimately trying to become.”

35. Game 7 was the most important of an era. Simon Benoit and McMann — a couple of guys who were never drafted — tied for most shots by a Maple Leaf that night (three).

36. How awesome was Benoit this month? Best hockey of his life.

37. Matthew Knies chose not to disclose the injury he suffered in Game 6 from the Niko Mikkola reverse hit. Whatever it was, it certainly hindered his effectiveness in Game 7.

“I was going to play no matter what,” he says.

38. We’ve heard from multiple sources that Knies suffered a bone bruise. Rib? Hip? Regardless, it will heal on its own and won’t require surgery.

39. Knies still gets a kick out of hearing “Arizona” twice over the loudspeaker when he and Matthews are announced as part of the starting lineup.

“It’s obviously a huge coincidence, and still funny for me to hear that,” Knies says. “It’s crazy to think, but we’re both really proud of where we come from.”

40. More Knies: “We’re going to come back stronger next year. And I think it’ll be fun to see what we can do next.”

The youngest Leaf might well be first in line whenever it comes time to pass the captaincy torch next. Loved his attitude and his game all season long.

41. The Leafs allowed the first 25(!) shot attempts in Game 7, and their 75 shot attempts allowed through two periods marked the most by any team this season (regular season or playoffs).

That’s on the players. That’s also on the coaching staff for not having them prepared.

42. Florida roasted the Leafs’ Holmberg–Tavares–Nylander line in Round 2, outshooting them 21-10 and outscoring them 3-0.

Nylander: “Just a s—– game. That’s about it.”

43. How ticked off was Berube as Game 7 unravelled and his stars went silent?

The coach started his fourth line against Aleksander Barkov’s top unit to begin Period 3.

44. Matthew Tkachuk, the morning of Game 7: “If you’re going to play tentative, you probably don’t belong in these games.”

45. Most sobering statistic: The Buffalo Sabres have more playoff series wins over the last 20 years than the Leafs. The Sabres have missed the playoffs in 16 of those years.

46. The it-was-close argument falls on deaf ears here.

Yes, Toronto’s 2-0 and 3-1 leads in Game 3 provide a painful what-if. Yes, they pushed the champs to seven.

But over the course of the series, the Panthers out-attempted the Leafs by 200 pucks (558-358), outshot them 218-173, out-chanced them 249-165, and outscored them 26-17.

The result had nothing to do with tough bounces or bad luck.

47. Nylander wants a word.

“I mean, we battled back and got it to 3-3 and lost in a Game 7, where we played a game we weren’t proud of,” Nylander says. “But I think for the most part, (we) had a good series. I mean, we were there as a team against the Stanley Cup champs. So, we did something right to take it to Game 7. Now, Game 7 didn’t go how we wished it would, but we learned a lot of things.”

48. The Maple Leafs totally would have beaten the Carolina Hurricanes.

49. While we’re sliding doors, of the final five teams alive, Toronto held home-ice advantage over all of them. The Leafs’ last-minute comeback victory over the Red Wings in a seemingly meaningless Game 82 nudged them ahead of the Stars in league standings.

50. Most GMs would stuff their mom in a penalty box to secure a tandem as cheap as Stolarz and Joseph Woll, locked up for a combined $6.17 million in 2025-26.

Tidy bit of business.

“Within a team, you want all your relationships to be good. And within a goalie tandem, that’s even more important,” Woll says of his partner. “He’s an easy-going guy and someone I just enjoy being around. And it was awesome to watch all the success he had this year.”

51. Of all the pending UFAs, 34-year-old Tavares easily scored the most goals (38). Chicago’s Ryan Donato was second with 31, and fellow 34-year-old Matt Duchene was third with 30. Marner was fourth (27).

52. Superstitions are silly, aren’t they?

53. Treliving can essentially run back his entire blue line, if he wants.

He has seven NHL-level D-men under contract through 2026-27.

54. Looking for a different mix of players, would the GM dare ask a slowing Rielly — the last vestige from Brian Burke’s tenure — to waive his no-move clause?

More critical: Would Rielly himself, in control of his fate through 2028, entertain a change of scenery?

“That’s not what I’m thinking about right now,” Rielly said Tuesday.

55. Steven Lorentz is coming back, right? What are we waiting for?

Why wasn’t the valued fourth-liner extended in-season for a reasonable contract, the way Benoit and McMann were in 2024?

56. Brandon Tanev, 33, is a UFA worth considering — though it is likely Kevin Cheveldayoff will try keeping him the rental in Winnipeg.

“I don’t know if the team wants him to come here. I don’t know if he wants to come here. That’s something that will be addressed down the road, if that ever comes up,” shrugs older brother Chris.

Would Chris enjoy a brotherly reunion?

“I don’t know. We’d probably argue quite a bit,” Chris deadpans. “I haven’t played with him. He’s two years younger than me.”

The idea could be moot.

Brandon sounded optimistic about re-upping with the Jets when their season ended: “I enjoy playing here in Winnipeg. I love the city. The team’s great. We’ll tackle (contract talks) in the next few weeks.”

57. Even with the Leafs eliminated a week ago, Chris Tanev still leads all playoff skaters in hits taken (111) by a wide margin.

He comes by his willingness to take more hits than he gives (seven in the playoffs) honestly.

“I was a really small kid growing up, so I wasn’t able to be physical and hit or throw checks as much as I’d like, because I was probably 4-foot-10 when I was 15 years old,” Tanev explains. “So, I sort of learned to play hockey that way, and it’s translated into my game today.”

58. Tanev reveals that he suffered an injury to his sternoclavicular joint, where the sternum meets the clavicle, from that hard John Beecher hit in Boston in late February.

59. Spoke to Ryan Reaves about how it felt to be the odd man out at the trade deadline, when he got waived and only returned as a black ace for the post-season:

“You can see the writing on the wall. You’re not playing. You’re not really involved anymore. That’s just naturally what’s going to happen when they’re trying to make a move. You know, it was tough. I hadn’t played in the AHL for 15 years now. It’s not somewhere I want to go back to, but that’s the nature of the business.”

60. In the past, the Leafs contemplated sending proud veterans Jason Spezza and Wayne Simmonds to the AHL. They refused.

Reaves also had the option to not suit up in those three games for the Marlies and continue being a professional practice-squad guy.

“But at the end of the day, sitting for a month and a half and not playing,” Reaves says, “that’s not fun to me. I’d rather go play and be part of something than just kind of be sitting in limbo and doing nothing.”

“A great group of guys. Practices are definitely a little different down there — longer, a little more reps. Not a lot of 38-year-olds down there. So, not really tailored for guys like me. But I played more minutes than I usually do.

“It was obviously not where I wanted to be, but I used the time.”

61. Does Treliving bury Reaves’s final contract year or buy him out? The latter would mean a $450,000 cap hit for 2025-26 and 2026-27.

62. Jani Hakanpää, a lovely man, got paid $1.47 million this past season. Or: $150,000 per minute of ice time. Good work if you can get it.

63. Following postgame showers in the regular season, players often meet up with friends and former teammates on the opposing team between the home and visitors’ rooms for a quick chat.

I remember Hakanpää speaking to Dallas PR when the Stars rolled through Toronto, looking for his former mates.

“Who do you want to speak to?” the giant defenceman was asked.

“Anyone! Everyone!” he replied.

64. When ex-Avalanche Nazem Kadri tweeted about the importance of keeping the dawgs, as Dallas’s Mikko Rantanen ran roughshod over Colorado and Winnipeg, he was probably referring to the Avs’ decision to let him go unsigned after hoisting the 2022 Cup.

But Toronto has let its share of dawgs walk.

In addition to the disastrous Kadri trade, one thinks of other local guys like Zach Hyman and Connor Brown. Players who wanted to be Leafs, whose relentlessness lends well to the post-season, yet were allowed to slip away.

65. This cover story from The Hockey News wasn’t far-fetched in 2018:

Now that the Leafs are getting older, that the window is closing (Matthews has three more years on his deal, and the blue line is aging), that some other divisional clubs are getting their act together (Ottawa, Montreal), we can’t help but wonder if Toronto’s best shots to go all the way — 2020? 2023? 2025? — might have already passed.

66. Now that Brendan Shanahan is gone, it’s time for the “own rental” strategy and the constant salary-cap overages to go too.

The spend-happy Leafs need better asset management for expiring contracts. They could benefit from staying under the cap so they can be nimbler in-season and at the trade deadline. And when planning for 2025’s free agency, they should have a sharp eye pointed at 2026’s more enticing UFA class.

67. Imagine if Connor McDavid doesn’t re-sign in Edmonton by July 2.

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