The Maple Leafs Have a Different Kind of Problem This Season

There’s something different about the Toronto Maple Leafs heading into this season. It isn’t that everything suddenly looks perfect. Far from it. There are still plenty of questions. Auston Matthews has to be Auston Matthews again. Morgan Rielly and Chris Tanev have to stay healthy. Sergei Bobrovsky has to provide the kind of goaltending Toronto is paying him to provide. And all those new pieces General Manager John Chayka brought in have to actually fit together.

But there’s one interesting part to all of this. For perhaps the first time in a while, many of the questions surrounding the Maple Leafs are about what this team could become, rather than whether it will repeat the problems already seen. That is a meaningful change.

There’s More to Look Forward to With These Maple Leafs.

There’s a difference between uncertainty and pessimism. A team can have many unanswered questions and still give its fans something to look forward to. That’s where Toronto sits right now. If Justin Bourne is right, Jack Roslovic will get a chance to play beside Auston Matthews. That alone will be worth watching.

Can he give Matthews the kind of complementary player the Leafs have been looking for? Can Matthew Knies take another step? Is Easton Cowan ready to become a bigger part of the team? And what happens when Gavin McKenna gets his first real taste of NHL competition?

The team doesn’t have to answer any of those questions in early September. That’s one of the pleasures of training camp.

What Should Maple Leafs Fans Look Forward to in Training Camp?

Training camp isn’t really about proving that a team is ready to win the Stanley Cup. It’s about discovering what you actually have. Sometimes a player surprises you. Sometimes a combination that looked good on paper doesn’t work. Sometimes a young player forces the coaching staff to rethink a role that seemed settled before camp opened.

That makes this particular camp interesting. The Maple Leafs don’t need every question answered right now. They need to figure out which questions are real problems—and which ones might turn into opportunities. There’s no guarantee that this team is going to be better. Hockey doesn’t work that way.

But there is something encouraging about entering a season wondering how good the Maple Leafs might be instead of wondering which old problem is going to hurt them next. That’s not a prediction. It’s just a far more enjoyable place to begin a hockey season.