How the Maple Leafs Should Decide Who Plays on Auston Matthews’ Right Wing
The biggest forward question facing the Toronto Maple Leafs right now isn’t just who can play right wing next to Auston Matthews. It’s how they decide who gets that opportunity. For a long time, the default approach has been to look for the most talented available player — someone who can produce and drive play. Specifically, they’d hope to replace what Mitch Marner brought to that line. That instinct is understandable. But it’s also incomplete.
The Maple Leafs aren’t a team made up of individual talents.
Team performance is not simply the sum of individual talents. It is an emergent property of how well those talents work together. The most useful question is not “Who is the best right wing we can get?” but “Who most consistently makes Matthews and the third forward on that line better?” That shift in framing changes what you value and what you look for.
Call it collaborative efficacy — the idea that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. In practical terms, it means judging a player by how much he raises the effectiveness of the people around him. You do that by looking beyond his stats or highlight-reel skill. Some players are strong individual producers who don’t lift their linemates. Others make everyone on the ice more dangerous. The second type is often more valuable inside a real lineup, especially beside a generational shooter like Matthews.
This is where the old “unicorn” way of thinking gets in the way. When we treat elite players as singular and almost magical, we go looking for another singular talent to replace them. But Marner’s best work wasn’t just personal production; it was the way he created advantages for Matthews and kept the line functioning as a unit. Replacing that requires understanding the job as part of a small system, not as a solo audition.
Related: The Maple Leafs Don't Need Better Chemistry; They Need Collaborative Efficacy.
So what should the Maple Leafs coach and general manager actually look for?
First, complementary habits rather than overlapping ones. Matthews already attracts enormous attention and can finish at an elite level. The right wing needs to create space, provide outlets, win retrievals, and keep plays alive so Matthews can stay in dangerous areas longer. Speed into open ice, smart off-puck routes, and the willingness to do the unglamorous work of recovering pucks all matter.
Second, evidence that the player elevates linemates. Personal point totals are useful, but they are not the whole story. How do the on-ice results look when he plays with high-end talent? Does the third forward on the line also improve? A wing who only works with Matthews and sinks the left wing is a limited solution.
Third, shared understanding or the ability to develop it quickly. Chemistry is partly history and partly adaptable intelligence. Players who already read each other’s tendencies have a head start. Players who can learn a new partner’s patterns fast are also valuable. In both cases, the skill is relational, not just individual.
Why Jack Roslovic might be the best answer for Matthews right wing.
This is one reason Jack Roslovic is a legitimate candidate even though he is not a star in the Marner mould. Roslovic does not bring the same elite playmaking ability or puck creativity. Evaluating him purely as a talent replacement will make him look insufficient. But he has real history with Matthews from the U.S. National Team Development Program. He brings speed that can stretch the ice, and he has talked about wanting to complement skilled players rather than needing to be the primary driver. On a reasonable two-year deal, he becomes a low-risk test of whether those traits can translate into making the actual line better.
He may not be the long-term answer. The larger point is that the Leafs should not be hunting for another unicorn. They should be looking for the player who most reliably turns three individuals into an effective unit. That requires different questions and a different definition of value.
Why do the Maple Leafs need to think of their team as a system?
Collaborative efficacy is not abstract theory. It is a practical way to decide who belongs on Matthews’ right side and why. The team that asks better questions about how players make each other better will usually build better lines. Toronto has the chance to do exactly that.