If I were Leafs GM Brad Treliving, acquiring a top-4 blue liner this summer would be high atop my list of priorities. I would put some urgency on it, too. And knowing Treliving’s track record, there’s probably a good chance something will come to fruition over the next few weeks. Over the course of the past week, the Columbus Blue Jackets kicked off the offseason party by nabbing both Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson in separate trades. Bottom line, Jarmo Kekalainen and company aren’t messing around. They wanted to upgrade their blue line, and they did just that. Meantime, if there’s one thing ..read more

It’s the weekend baby, and you know what that means, time to drink precisely one beer and read Leaflets. No. Okay, that’s fine. It’s time to watch the team that has knocked off the Leafs in the playoffs go for the Stanley Cup, as per tradition. At least Toronto has that. I’m curious if anyone tracks which teams have been eliminated by eventual cup finalists/champions and how high the Leafs are up on that list. I’m sure the Sharks have done well in this regard too. Anyways, here are some thoughts that entered my head on a scorching hot Friday afternoon in June. When it comes to move the bar tra ..read more

Over the next few weeks leading into the 2023 NHL Draft, we’ll be counting down the Top 100 prospects in this year’s class based on Daily Faceoff’s list. Today, we have No. 75 Joey Willis, No. 74 Theo Lindstein, No. 73 Alexander Rykov, No. 72 Andrew Strathmann, and No. 71 Matthew Mania.  NHL DRAFT CONTENT PRESENTED BY BETWAY No. 75: Joey Willis Date of Birth: March 14, 2005 Nation: United States Position: Centre Shoots: Left Height: 5’10” Weight: 165 lbs Scouting Report: “Willis shines defensively, which is partially why his offensive creation was a bit hit or miss for large stretches of ..read more

It had to wait until training camp due to some cap kinks that needed to be worked out. But the Maple Leafs had their eye on Zach Aston-Reese in free agency, and when September rolled around and he was still without a contract, they signed him to a professional tryout deal, followed by a one-year contract just north of $840,000. Formerly a Hobey Baker candidate in his NCAA playing days, Aston-Reese’s game shifted once he got to the NHL, and he turned into precisely the type of player he was in Toronto this year. A bottom six forward with limited offense, but a strong forecheck game, good physic ..read more

When a former first-overall pick of the OHL draft is not projected to be taken early in his NHL draft-eligible season, there are probably some concerning trends emerging that would suggest said player is losing momentum. But with so many quality players available at this year’s draft, it shouldn’t exactly be surprising that so much competition is impacting the rankings for such a prospect. Having said that, there is quite a lot to like about the 2021 first-overall selection and he is someone who could slip right into the Leafs’ grasp if they are lucky. This player is the subject of another ent ..read more

In just over three weeks, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews will officially be eligible to come to terms on a new contract. Matthews is heading into the final season of the five-year, $58.195 million contract that he signed with the Leafs back in February of 2019 and he’ll be able to hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career on July 1, 2024. The Leafs undoubtedly want to keep their star player around long-term and Matthews has expressed a desire to remain in Toronto, so there’s a good chance that the two sides agree to a contract extension bef ..read more

In a move that was made official on Friday morning, the Leafs have hired Coyotes legend Shane Doan as Special Advisor to general manager Brad Treliving. This marks the first substantial move for the Leafs with the 53-year-old Treliving at the helm. Of course, Doan and Treliving have a strong relationship dating back to their days in Arizona together. Effectively, Doan would fill the role left behind by Jason Spezza, who resigned from his post following Kyle Dubas’ dismissal.   Meantime, we kicked off the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take by breaking down Game 3 of the Stanley Cup ..read more

End-of-year press conferences in the NHL enable fans and members of the media to pull back the curtain and gather information directly from team management. They can occasionally reveal very intricate situations, and as we saw here in Toronto they have the ability to alter the course of a franchise forever. Most teams hold their end-of-year media availability within a week after their season ends, and usually, the President of Hockey Operations and General Manager or Head Coach will speak. The New York Islanders had their season come to an end on April 28th in overtime of Game Six against the ..read more

Two years ago, Michael Bunting signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs — his hometown team — to get a taste of what it’d be like. Now, the 27-year-old gets the chance to test the open market once again, where he could receive a more lucrative deal. When Bunting signed with the Maple Leafs, he only had 26 NHL games to his name. One of the big reasons as to why he arrived in Toronto was because in those 26 games, Bunting had 11 goals. There was a strong chance that if the 27-year-old bet on himself, it would pay off massively when he signs his next contract. And it has. Bunting has played 161 games ..read more

After four rounds of 15 different matchups between 16 of the best 279 goals scored from the Toronto Maple Leafs 2022-23 regular season, we finally have a winner after the voting in the final matchup wrapped up yesterday afternoon over on our Twitter account (@TLNdc) Heading into the finals we were treated to a matchup between two of the best right-wingers in the league – Mitch Marner and William Nylander. We were either going to see Marner repeat as champion and win another goal of the season bracket after winning it last year with his goal against the Vegas Golden Knights on November 2, 2021 ..read more