Maple Leafs’ Season Might Come Down to Matthews and

The Maple Leafs have changed almost everything they could this summer. New management. New coaching. New players. A very different bottom six. A different look on defence. And, most importantly, a different feeling around the team.

But here's the funny thing about hockey. After all that, two players who weren't even on the same team last season might have more to do with Toronto's success than almost anybody else.

Auston Matthews and Sergei Bobrovsky could be the Maple Leafs’ most important players.

Bobrovsky is the easy one to explain. Toronto has needed goaltending for a long time, and the Maple Leafs are betting that the veteran can give them the kind of stability they haven't always had when the games get important. He's won two Stanley Cups. He's been through everything an NHL goalie can go through. And by all accounts, he's already making an impression around the team. That's important.

A goalie doesn't have to give a motivational speech every morning to have an impact. Sometimes it's just knowing there's a guy behind you who's seen almost everything and won't panic when things get ugly. That's what Toronto is hoping Bobrovsky brings.

But Matthews might be even more important to the Maple Leafs’ success this season.

He had knee surgery in March, and nobody really knows yet what this version of Auston Matthews will look like over a full season. The early reports have been encouraging. He looks lighter. He says he feels good. He's back on the ice. That's all good news.

But the Maple Leafs don't need Matthews just to be healthy enough to play. They need him to be Auston Matthews. There's a big difference in what that looks like. Toronto can improve its depth. It can get tougher. It can change the coaching staff. It can add players who are willing to stand up for one another. All of that matters.

But eventually, the Maple Leafs will still need their captain to drive the team. And that's where Matthews and Bobrovsky become such an interesting pair.

The two biggest Maple Leafs questions of the season.

One is supposed to put the puck in the net. The other is supposed to keep it out. Pretty simple, really. If Matthews is healthy and playing with confidence, and Bobrovsky gives Toronto the goaltending everybody hopes he can provide, suddenly all those other changes around them have a chance to mean something.

If either one struggles, the conversation gets a lot more complicated. That's why, for all the attention on Toronto's new-look roster, the season might still come down to two very familiar hockey questions. Can Auston Matthews be Auston Matthews again? And can Sergei Bobrovsky give the Maple Leafs the kind of goaltending they've been waiting for?

Answer those two questions, and we might have a pretty good idea of what kind of Maple Leafs team we'll be watching this year.

Funny how, after changing almost everything, Toronto may still have its season resting on two guys doing the two things hockey players have always been asked to do. Score. And stop the puck.