With a new coach and captain, some curious new faces and actual competition for roster spots, this has a chance to be one of the more fascinating Toronto Maple Leafs training camps in years.
Let’s dive right into the 10 biggest questions.
1. Which Mitch Marner shows up?
When Leafs management hinted after last season that BIG change was coming, it was only natural to conclude that Marner, who had only a year left on his contract and who had struggled in the playoffs, might be the piece to go. Marner’s no-movement clause ultimately kept him from going anywhere (and from Leafs brass really pursuing anything). And so Marner returns for his ninth season as a Leaf under more scrutiny than ever, with no contract beyond this season.
Does he arrive at camp in good spirits nonetheless, relaxed but also determined to prove he’s deserving of a new deal and commitment from the Leafs? Or does he show up with a negative vibe and chip on his shoulder, slighted by the summer speculation and overwhelming criticism he takes relative to his fellow Leaf cornerstones? Marner’s demeanour in the early days of camp will say a lot. Also of intrigue is his spot in the lineup. Marner ended last season on a line with Max Domi. I think we’ll see him return to Auston Matthews’ side at camp.
2. Will Max Pacioretty prove he can stay healthy and still contribute?
Pacioretty enters camp on a professional tryout, but GM Brad Treliving sure made it seem like a contract was all but a formality to work out later. The Leafs will presumably take the same approach with Pacioretty as they did with past PTOers Zach Aston-Reese and Noah Gregor: Determine how much cap space (down to the penny!) they can allocate to Pacioretty at the end of camp when roster decisions have all been made.
I still have to believe Pacioretty will need to put together at least a decent camp to score a contract, where he scores some goals in a top-nine (and maybe even top-six) role and doesn’t look too slow for NHL hockey ahead of his 36th birthday in November. Is that contract still a go, say, if he looks old and/or injured? Does preseason hockey offer anything of value as far as evaluations go for a guy like that? What kind of opportunity does Pacioretty get? A look on the top line with Matthews and perhaps Marner? A shot with William Nylander?
3. Can Easton Cowan make a run for roster spot?
Cowan’s chances of making the Leafs at 19 will be mostly, though not entirely, determined by Cowan himself. True, the Leafs have a lot of bodies in his way on the depth chart and related cap/asset considerations. But if Cowan is a rock star at camp and in the preseason, the Leafs will give him a chance to stick around to start the regular season. (I dug into all the variables last week.)
4. Who lines up at centre?
Nylander should start camp at centre for the second year in a row, only this time it won’t be a halfhearted experiment. Not like last fall when then-Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe pulled the plug after two exhibition games. Nylander will need time to acclimate to a position he’s barely played in the NHL and I have to think new Leafs coach Craig Berube will give it to him. Unlike Keefe, who coached Nylander from his earliest days in the organization, Berube has no baggage (good or bad) with Nylander. No reason to think he can’t make the transition. If he can do it, the Leafs will finally be able to ease John Tavares’ burden, dropping him down, presumably, into 3C territory on a more permanent basis while lightening his minutes and competition slightly.
5. Is Jani Hakanpää healthy enough to contribute?
It took all summer for the Leafs to determine that Hakanpää was healthy enough to merit a contract — but only a one-year deal, not the two-year pact it was initially speculated upon (the Leafs never made it official) on July 1. Now they get to see what the 32-year-old looks like in action. Can the 6-foot-7, 222-pound behemoth still get around OK after all the issues with his knee, which ended his 2023-24 season in March? Can he stay on the ice, for that matter, throughout camp or will those issues re-emerge? Will he be ready to start the season or begin the year on LTIR? Hakanpää’s health, or lack thereof, will have a trickle-down effect on the rest of the defence.
6. Who gets the first look with Oliver Ekman-Larsson?
The only pairing that feels set in stone (assuming all goes well in the preseason) is Morgan Rielly with Chris Tanev. After that, all bets are off, especially with the outstanding Hakanpää question mark. Maybe the most curious question for Berube and Mike van Ryn, the assistant coach overseeing the D, is who will play with 33-year-old newcomer Ekman-Larsson. The candidates include Hakanpää, Timothy Liljegren and perhaps even Jake McCabe — though the Leafs prefer the 31-year-old on his natural side for a potential 1-2-3 on the left side of Rielly, McCabe and Ekman-Larsson.
How the “who plays with Ekman-Larsson?” question shakes out will impact the remaining pair. If Hakanpää ends up alongside Ekman-Larsson, for instance, Berube will have to decide whether he wants to play Liljegren with McCabe or reconnect the partnership that was most effective for the Leafs last season: McCabe with Simon Benoit. Injuries could blow up everything obviously, but a training camp competition between Liljegren and Benoit seems likely. What happens if Liljegren, not exactly a favourite of this front office, fails to make a good first impression on Berube?
7. Can Joseph Woll quickly stake his claim to the No. 1 job?
This is, clearly, a massive season for Woll. He needs to not only prove he can stay healthy, a challenge throughout his professional career, but demonstrate that the Leafs were right to bet on him with a three-year extension this past summer. He’ll need to get off on the right foot in camp where, for the first time in his Leafs life, there are real expectations. Woll hasn’t played enough in the NHL — just 36 regular-season games — to be owed the starting job outright. He’ll have to earn it, with competition from Ilya Samsonov-replacement Anthony Stolarz.
8. Are major changes coming to the power play?
Marc Savard replaces Guy Boucher as chief tactician of the power play. Will he shake things up? And by that I mean will he spread Matthews, Nylander, Marner and Tavares across two units? My gut tells me no, that Savard will stack PP1 yet again even after a lacklustre postseason that saw the Leafs score on a meagre 4.8 percent of their power plays. I imagine there will be one change to that unit, though: Ekman-Larsson stepping in for Rielly. That would leave Rielly, Domi, Pacioretty, Matthew Knies and one of Cowan, Calle Järnkrok or Nick Robertson filling out a somewhat intriguing PP2.
9. Can Nick Robertson win a job and secure his future with the Leafs?
Speaking of which: What kind of mood does Robertson show up in at camp after a summer that saw him request — and not be granted — a trade? It’s been a bumpy few years for Robertson and, clearly, the lack of opportunity he’s been granted has been a source of frustration. It’s tempting to think the path is wide open for Robertson now given the team’s apparent weakness at left wing, but I’m not sure that’s actually the case. Six of the eight available spots on the wing are probably spoken for (assuming my Nylander hunch is on point): Domi, Marner, Pacioretty, Knies, Järnkrok and Bobby McMann. Pontus Holmberg would make seven. This means a competition between Robertson, Cowan, Connor Dewar, Ryan Reaves, Steven Lorentz and, potentially, Nikita Grebenkin for one spot. Injuries might factor into things. But Robertson will have to really shine at camp if he’s going to win more opportunities. What kind of opportunity does Berube hand him at the outset of camp? How will Robertson handle, say, so-so linemates if that’s the hand he’s dealt early on?
10. Does a new era of leadership feel any different?
For the first time since 2019, Keefe won’t be running training camp for the Leafs. Change is inevitable with Berube in charge. He’ll begin implementing his own brand of Leafs hockey at camp, one that is sure to differ from that of his predecessor. A new boss means adjustment for everyone. How will Matthews’ leadership, for that matter, differ now that he’ll be donning a “C” on his jersey? Will it change at all? Will he feel the need to act differently, somehow, now as the official leader of the team, whether that’s behind the scenes, on the bench or in front of cameras and microphones? And what will it be like for Tavares to take a step back while playing a slightly lesser role? The Leafs already declared that Tavares will wear an “A” this season, but who will join him? Will the team alternate the second letter between Rielly, an alternate captain since 2016 and the longest-serving Leaf, and Marner, an alternate himself since 2019? And what about Nylander, who has shown more and more leadership in recent years? Maybe none of it matters all that much, though I tend to think it will tell us something about how the team sees itself and its leadership.
(Top photo of Auston Matthews and William Nylander: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)
