John Matisz of theScore: Looking at three paths the Toronto Maple Leafs could go.
Major Changes – We’re talking Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Mitch Marner and not Alex Kerfoot, Justin Holl or Nick Robertson. Matthews isn’t going anywhere. Nylander’s stock is high and on a good contract. Tavares’ contract may not be tradable. That leaves Marner, who has zero goals in his past 18 playoff games. He has a $10.9 cap hit and there would be teams interested. Morgan Rielly has a year left and is their No. 1 defenseman, but he could be used as a trade piece if they are looking to make big changes.
Minor Changes – Changes could include a new power play coach, a new crop of depth forwards, and a new goaltender to partner with Jack Campbell.
Staying the course – Won’t be appealing to most fans. They are one of the top five talented teams. Forward John Tavares was out for basically the entire series. Defenseman Jake Muzzin has hurt in Game 6 and forward Nick Foligno was playing hurt.
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe.
“Our guys were quite devastated,” Keefe said. “Despite not having John , despite not having Nick , we were in a good spot and didn’t close it out. We added enough pieces and depth and things like that to be able to deal with those types of situations. There’s zero excuses.”
The Maple Leafs have eight pending UFAs who were in Game 7 last night, and another three that weren’t.
Jason Spezza is worth re-signing, and they’ll likely take a run at Zach Hyman who will get outside interest. Would Zach Bogosian be willing to re-sign?
Forward Alex Kerfoot could be an option for the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft.
If they believe Jack Campbell can be their starter next year, having him at only $1.65 million will allow them to spend in other areas.