Can the Maple Leafs Be a Better Team Without Being a More

There is an interesting question hiding underneath all the changes the Toronto Maple Leafs have made this summer. Did they actually become a more talented hockey team? I'm not sure they did.

Toronto has a new general manager, a new coach, Sergei Bobrovsky in goal, Darren Raddysh on defence and a collection of new depth players. And, of course, Gavin McKenna has arrived as the organization's new great hope.

But the most important change may not be any one of those players. The more interesting possibility is that Toronto is trying to become a better team without necessarily becoming a more talented team. That may sound like a small distinction. It isn't.

Talent Isn't the Same Thing as Good for an NHL Team.

For years, the Maple Leafs had plenty of talent. That was never really the problem. Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares were gifted hockey players. The problem was what happened when all that talent had to play together.

This is where I think the new version of the Maple Leafs gets interesting. A hockey team isn't simply a collection of individual abilities. It is a group of people who have to understand what the other people are doing and trust them enough to do their own jobs.

There are teams that become greater than the sum of their parts. Could this be the new iteration of the Maple Leafs? A player doesn't necessarily become more talented just because he has better teammates. But he can become more effective because the people around him make it easier to do what he does best.

Could John Chayka’s Role-Based Roster Create a Better Team?

That's an entirely different way of thinking about team building. Raddysh doesn't have to be Cale Makar. He has to be the kind of defenceman who can move the puck and provide offence while somebody else takes care of another part of the game.

Bobrovsky doesn't have to steal every game. He needs a team in front of him that understands how to make his job manageable. McKenna doesn't have to arrive as a saviour. He needs teammates and coaches who allow him to become the player he is capable of becoming. And that may be the biggest change of all.

The Maple Leafs Don't Need Everyone to Be Everything.

The temptation in Toronto has always been to look for the next great player who will solve the next great problem. Maybe that's finally changing. The better question might be: Can these players make one another better?

That's harder to measure than goals, assists or save percentage. It doesn't show up neatly on a salary-cap spreadsheet. But we know it when we see it. A team that trusts its structure can play faster because players don't have to hesitate. A player who knows where his teammates are supposed to be can make the next play sooner. And a group that understands its roles doesn't need every player to be spectacular every night.

That's Why This Maple Leafs Season Could Be So Interesting.

Maybe Toronto hasn't assembled a dramatically more talented team. Maybe it has assembled a team with a better chance of using its existing talent. And if that's what Chayka and the new coaching staff have actually built, Toronto may have discovered something more valuable than another star.

It may have discovered how to become a team.