Do the Maple Leafs Finally Have Room to Experiment?

There’s something different about this Maple Leafs team that has nothing to do with any one player. It’s the fact that, for perhaps the first time in a while, Toronto seems to have some room to experiment.

That might not sound like much. Every NHL team experiments in training camp. Lines get shuffled, players move up and down, coaches try different combinations. But with the Maple Leafs, those experiments have often felt more like auditions for survival. Somebody gets put beside Auston Matthews, and suddenly everybody wants to know whether he’s the answer. A young player gets a bigger role, and pretty quickly the question becomes whether he can handle it.

Justin Bourne’s look at the Maple Leafs suggests something different this season.

Take Jack Roslovic. Justin Bourne has him projected alongside Matthews and William Nylander, but there’s no sense that Toronto has to make that permanent. Roslovic can get a legitimate opportunity without the organization having to announce that it has finally solved the problem of finding a winger for Matthews.

The same thing applies to Gavin McKenna. There’s an understandable temptation to put a talented young player beside the stars and see what happens. But Bourne makes a good case for bringing McKenna along more gradually. That might actually be better for everybody.

McKenna doesn’t have to rescue the Maple Leafs. He doesn’t have to prove on opening night that he belongs beside Matthews. He can play, learn the NHL game, make some mistakes and gradually earn more responsibility. And if he turns out to be ready for more? Great. Move him up.

The Maple Leafs have more legitimate options than they’ve had for a while.

That’s the part of this Maple Leafs team that feels different. There appear to be enough legitimate options that the coaching staff doesn’t have to make every decision into a referendum on the entire season.

Matthew Knies can continue developing his passing game. Easton Cowan can build on what he learned during that long Marlies playoff run. Roslovic can see what he can do with Matthews and Nylander. McKenna can find his NHL footing. None of those things has to be decided in September.

For years, the Maple Leafs seemed to be looking for the missing piece. Every signing or promotion came with a giant arrow pointing at it: Is this the guy? Maybe the more interesting question now is whether Toronto finally has enough pieces to stop asking that question so loudly.

Training camp should be about discovering what this team can become—not proving what it already is. And that may be the biggest change of all.