Trade Marner? Fire the Coach? Here are Some Moves That The Maple Leafs Can Actually Make This Summer
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Now that it’s over — now that the Toronto Maple Leafs have once again failed to get past the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs following a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 7 — the bloodletting begins.
Except, ridding this team of its poison is not going to be easy.
It’s not that it’s difficult to see where the changes need to be made. Any fan will tell you that head coach Sheldon Keefe needs to be fired, that Mitch Marner needs to be traded and that John Tavares has to be stripped of its captaincy. While you’re at it, maybe flip Morgan Rielly for a younger No. 1 defenseman and bring in more players who play like Matthew Kniews and Tyler Bertuzzi.
Easy. Done.
Of course, running the Maple Leafs is not like playing GM mode in NHL24. If it were, Brad Treliving would have already made this team more playoff ready than it was heading into his first post-season.
Five players (Marner, Tavares, Rielly, Auston Matthews, William Nylander) have no-movement clauses. Another three (Calle Jarnkrok, David Kampf and Jake McCabe) have modified no-trade clauses.
That’s a lot of red tape to cut through.
You want to trade Marner? First, you are going to have to convince him to waive his no-trade clause, which means having him admit that he’s the problem. Good luck with that.
Tavares? He’s got another year remaining on his contract.
Rielly? His contract doesn’t expire until 2030? By then, the only Toronto player who may still be around might be Nylander, who is signed until 2032.
No, the problem with a core is that it is solid. It ain’t going nowhere.
With that in mind, here are some moves that the Maple Leafs can actually make — and might do some good.
Fire Sheldon Keefe
This is the easiest decision. Although, it could be the most costly.
Keefe, who has been behind the Leafs bench for five seasons, just signed a two-year contract that doesn’t kick in until 2024-25. But based on how ineffective Toronto’s power play was in the playoffs and with how the team played in the first four games of the series, it’s clear that he’s not the right coach for this team.
The Leafs need someone who is more structured, more disciplined and more prickly. They need someone who can convince the players to play the way they did when their backs were against the wall and they were missing their best player. Someone like Craig Berube or Dean Evason or even associate coach Guy Boucher.
Find Rielly a Defense Partner
Morgan Rielly might not be a No. 1 defenseman in the same way that Cale Makar is. But it doesn’t help that Makar gets to play with Devon Toews, while Rielly is playing with Ilya Lyabushkin.
That matters.
With Lyabushkin, T.J. Brodie, John Klingberg, Mark Giordano and Joel Edmondson all coming off the books, the Leafs will have just over $11.5-million to find Rielly a running mate. Some of that, of course, will have to go to re-signing Timothy Liljegren. But it still leaves a lot left over to get someone like Carolina’s Brady Skjei or Brett Pesce, who are both pending UFAs.
Re-Sign Tyler Bertuzzi
Leafs fans may not have been overwhelmed with Bertuzzi’s production in the regular season, when he scored 21 goals and 43 points. But in the playoffs, he was one of Toronto’s most consistent forwards.
It wasn’t just the offense (one goal and four points in seven games). It was the intangibles.
Bertuzzi was everything you wanted in a playoff performer. He got under the skin of Brad Marchand. He finished checks. He chipped in with offense. And he dragged his teammates into the fight.
On a team loaded with skill, Bertuzzi’s gap-toothed grin provided the necessary grit to go a long run — if only others played more like him.
Bring Back Ilya Samsonov
With Samsonov’s contract set to expire, there is an opportunity to go in another direction with Toronto’s goaltending. But goaltending — whether it was Samsonov in net or Joseph Woll — wasn’t the problem. If anything, it hid a lot of the Leafs problems.
For that reason, the Leafs should re-sign Samsonov, who earned $3.55-million last season. But heading into next season, Woll needs to be the No. 1 goalie. And considering that the 25-year-old is also a pending restricted free agent, he needs to be paid like one.
The challenge for Treliving is getting both goalies signed to a reasonable number. If the Bruins were paying Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman a combined $8.475-milllion, there’s no reason why Samsonov and Woll should cost more.
Convince Mitch Marner to Waive His NMC
Look, it’s no longer working for Marner in Toronto.
The fans have turned on a player who missed a check on David Pastrnak’s OT winner, who doesn’t change his game for the playoffs, who whines and complains when things aren’t going his way.
Even Marner, who lashed out at the media frequently this year, seems like he could use a change of scenery. If that’s the case, then the Leafs need to do everything they can to convince him to waive his no-movement clause and trade him.
Utah, which could use a star player to help sell tickets, immediately comes to mind as a perfect destination. So does Columbus, Seattle or even Ottawa.
As for the return, it’s not important that the Leafs get a superstar of Marner’s level. This doesn’t have to be a 1-for-1 trade. Instead, the Leafs should be looking for depth. For leadership. For those culture-changing intangibles that are clearly missing when the playoffs begin.