Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving, right, sits alongside Leafs' president Brendan Shanahan at a news conference in Toronto, on June 1.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
The Toronto Maple Leafs are still waiting on William Nylander but otherwise begin training camp on Wednesday with relatively few areas of concern.
Brad Treliving has had a productive summer since coming on as general manager. He locked up Auston Matthews for four more years amid doubts that the star centre wanted to remain in Toronto, and extended Sheldon Keefe’s contract for two more.
Some may have preferred someone else behind the bench but if that was not going to happen nothing would have been worse than to charge ahead into a new season with a lame-duck head coach. The aforementioned Nylander, whose contract expires in July, is the last shiny piece that needs to be fit into the puzzle. Talks between him and the team continue to plod along without a whiff of desperation from either.
Say what you will about the animus felt towards Nylander by many fans, but goals don’t grow on trees. The 27-year-old right wing had 40 in 2022-23 – a career high – to go along with a career-best 87 points. And among the club’s core players he has been the best during the postseason.
If he is still here – and my guess is yes – Toronto is even toying with the idea of Nylander playing a bit at centre. John Tavares has begun to show his age and David Kampf is excellent at faceoffs but not much of an offensive threat, so there is not a lot of depth behind Matthews.
Other than that, the Maple Leafs have more answers than questions for the first time in a long while with the NHL regular season just three weeks away.
A year ago at this time, there was debate about who Toronto’s goalie would be. That’s no longer the case, with Ilya Samsonov back after last year’s strong performance. Joseph Woll accounted well for himself when Samsonov was injured in the playoffs and veteran Martin Jones was brought in as insurance.
In recent years the team has had plenty of scoring punch, but has not landed many punches. It has been plagued by a lack of grit.
To fix that, Treliving brought in the intimidating Ryan Reaves, Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi as free agents. It is unlikely that Matthews or Mitch Marner will be pushed around much with them lurking. And Domi, who signed for one year, can play centre or left wing. Bertuzzi is also on a one-year contract while Reaves signed for three.
Bertuzzi and Domi have both been 20-plus goal-scorers, but Reaves, even at 36, might be the most significant addition. He is a gregarious presence and will liven up what was a pretty quiet dressing room while he diligently protects the stars.
In 13 years, Reaves has played in 828 regular-season contests and has accrued 129 points and 1,023 penalty minutes.
Toronto strengthened its defence by signing veteran John Klingberg, who is steady, can likely be counted on to score 40 points or more and could see some time on the power play. (His career high is 67 points and in 2020 he had 21 in 26 playoff games for Dallas.) Morgan Rielly flourished during the playoffs after a challenging regular season. A better performance is expected from T.J. Brodie, who especially struggled during the postseason.
Despite the excitement that is generated by the prospects, there is usually very little room for first-year players and this year that looks especially true.
Matthew Knies, who came straight out of the NCAA at the end of last season and impressed before having a concussion during the playoffs, is an exception and for certain will make the roster.
Toronto finally won a playoff round last year – for the first time since 2004 – and looks to improve on that.
“You can look at what this team has done during the last couple of regular seasons and see that it is only a matter of time,” Reaves said Monday at a charity golf tournament. “I wanted a chance to win a Stanley Cup so I came here. I want to be here when it happens.
“I’ve been around a while. I’ve been on good teams, I’ve been on bad teams, I’ve been to a bunch of conference finals and a Stanley Cup final. I’ve seen the things that work and that really hurt you in the playoffs and I hope to pass that knowledge along.”