Panic time, Kampf cap relief, and lines with a purpose: Leaflets

Panic time, Kampf cap relief, and lines with a purpose: Leaflets

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There are a lot of negative things to talk about with the Leafs right now and without a doubt, we’ll get to those soon, but before that it seems like taking a moment to appreciate the offence coming off the sticks of William Nylander, John Tavares, and Matthew Knies is warranted. And for that matter, Morgan Rielly going back to being an offensive contributor is nice even if the defensive warts are still glaring. Knies, Rielly, and Nylander were very much the players on the Leafs that were put in positions where more was going to be asked of them offensively this season and all three have met that target. Tavares scoring at a 50-goal clip is just gravy. Things might not be going great at the moment but there are some silver linings.

Here are some other stray thoughts…

If someone tells you they aren’t panicking, they are panicking

It seems like good news that the Leafs are showing some signs of panic and some acknowledgement that what they attempted to do this season isn’t going as planned. Because it isn’t working and as the 20-game mark fast approaches, there should be a sense of urgency kicking in. The question of whether or not the Leafs have the right people in place to adjust to a winning formula on the fly remains to be seen but accepting it is a mess is a good start.

The problem with things being a mess, is that it also means asking the tough question of whether this group is one or two moves away from getting back on track to challenging for the top spot in the division and competing for the Cup this season. If you think the answer is yes, spending assets to bringing in older/expensive talent might be the right course of action and the Leafs can try to get past a slow start.

If you think the Leafs problems go beyond one or two moves, this season starts mirroring what the Rangers did last season and start selling off the players that aren’t working on the Leafs, while being ruthless when it comes to those cuts.

The Rangers might not be a team that is fully back on track this season but they recognized who they wanted to keep and made some smart additions while getting a few more futures into their system as well. They took 2024-25 as a loss and are at least back in the bubble team mix on the strength of an 8-1-1 road record, and are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games after a tough start to the year.

This is a tough situation to be for MLSE CEO Keith Pelley to be in. He was pitched as ethe non-nonsense boss who wasn’t going to accept poor results and Brad Treliving has immediately tested him on that stance. Pelley attached himself to and endorsed the direction the team took with Mitch Marner but that seemed to come with the caveat that the team would still be good and it was to be a change of direction not a step back. And truly, this isn’t about Marner as this wasn’t a move that took the club by surprise and the decisions the club has made weren’t made under duress. This is about how Pelley is probably seeing a GM and Coach who have made some bad reads on what will work on the ice and a group of players who aren’t playing the most inspired hockey at the moment.

Seeing how this non-panicking panic plays out for the Leafs will be interesting and while returns of Matthews, Tanev, Woll, Stolarz, and Laughton will all bring the opportunity to assess what this team truly looks like, and how they truly play as a group, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of candidates around the organization that it might be time to move on from.

Kampf’s departure frees up a few bucks

With Kampf in the AHL, a $1,250,000 cap hit remained on the Maple Leafs. That is now gone. And the Leafs now have $1.7M of cap space to work with. That number shifts towards $2.5M once you factor in the demotion of Dennis Hildeby once Stolarz is healthy and has the potential to increase even more as Matthews, Laughton, and Tanev get healthy and further Marlie demotions occur. The Leafs also aren’t locked into the 23-player roster approach although injuries and inconsistent play have made it a nice luxury.

The point is the Leafs are potentially in a situation where they can consider spending their way out of trouble, it’s just that it might not be the best idea. A few years back Kyle Dubas made a statement about not wanting to spend assets on a team that wasn’t delivering and the Leafs might be in that situation again. And while I’m not suggesting the Leafs go into another situation where their trade deadline splashes are reacquiring Calle Rosen or picking up Denis Malgin, it might not be a year to add.

The bigger win for the Leafs might come in 2026-27, where the $1.175M of cap space gained by this move can be put to more practical and planned for use. As things sit today, the Leafs have over $19M in cap space for 2026-27.

What do you want them to accomplish?

The Leafs lineup card feels like jazz, whatever note you are expecting to be hit, something very different happens. When jazz is done right it is art at its finest. When jazz is done wrong, you get Max Domi playing centre.

I’ve never been a fan of jazz. I’m a formulaic pop guy. I want something catchy and easy to recognize and with that I want the Maple Leafs lines to have a purpose and to put pieces that seem like they would work well together on the same line.

Right now, with Auston Matthews out, it’s difficult to put together the definitive Maple Leafs lines. Even the absence of Scott Laughton hurts that, but maybe it’s as simple as asking what the Leafs want each line to do and sending them out to do it.

Let’s start at the bottom.

I want the Maple Leafs to hit someone.

Good news, Steven Lorentz, Dakota Joshua, and Sammy Blais are capable of doing that. There’s a perfectly acceptable fourth line.

I want the Maple Leafs to play sound two-way hockey

As best I can tell that would involve Nicolas Roy, Calle Jarnkrok, and Easton Cowan. All three players can be trusted at either end of the ice and if they are lining up against bottom six opposition they might even score.

I want scoring chances

This feels like the grey are on the Maple Leafs at the moment as Auston Matthews’ absence cuts into the Leafs ability have a deep top six. I’d say the combination of Nick Robertson, Matias Maccelli, and Bobby McMann fit in here while Toronto reluctantly puts Max Domi at centre due to Matthews and Laughton not being available.

I want the Maple Leafs to dominate

At this point, just put Matthew Knies, William Nylander, and John Tavares together. They are what is working for the team and the Maple Leafs need something to go right.

None of these lines might be perfect but at least they would all be clear on what they are supposed to do. With the amount of shuffling of players around the Leafs lineup card in the past few weeks I’m sure roles and expectations have shifted a lot and some confusion/chemistry issues are preventing players from doing what they do best. Simplifying things, especially in Matthews’ absence at least makes sense to me.

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