It’s the weekend. and a weekend that will see significantly less player traffic than its predecessor. We’re heading into the summer slowdown and before you know it, we’ll be talking about who we’ll be bringing to the Pro Trials and counting down the best odds until training camp approaches and we get reports that everyone’s in tip-top shape. of their lives. amazing. Right now, there are still some stray thoughts running around in my head that it’s time to get rid of them.
Klingberg as mentor to Timothy Lillgren
Signing John Klingberg requires a lot of effort to justify and one such rationale is that the Leafs could see some benefit in an experienced Swedish right-sided defender with some offensive acumen serving as a mentor to Timothy Liljegren and giving him the chance to surprise his team. Career reach the next level.
By now you’ll probably notice that Liljegren is indeed the better defence, but if the feeling is that Klingberg has something to offer from his experience as a player who’s had seasons good enough to finish sixth in the Norris voting, then it’s worth a try and perhaps justifies his existence.
I wrote previously that Klingberg should also get some attention for the best powerplay unit as he addresses a huge need there, even if Morgan Rielly is the more talented defenseman. Given that Rielly’s success is mainly in 5v5, I’m also wondering if the Leafs will consider Klingberg in the first unit and Liljegren in the second, with Rielly potentially seeing secondary unit time but on his strength as someone who will flick the puck off the wall not a person’s point. It looks like the new radical alternative to powerplays might be with the 3F2D model and we’ll talk more about powerplay in the next point.
The main takeaway I take from all of this is that I think Timothy Lillgren is a player the Leafs would very much like to have in their future and in an off-season filled with contract extension talks, he is probably a player that can be done cheaply and quickly.
“Get a powerplay together”
Heading into the summer, the Leafs had five great strength performance building blocks in Matthews, Tavares, Marner, Nylander and Rielly. They also have Knies who looks promising in this role, and Liljegren who can certainly handle a second powerplay unit if needed.
Toronto generally executed an all-or-nothing loaded first unit, and one of the key players might get stuck trying to out Kale Yarnkrok and Alex Kerfoot on the second unit. It wasn’t cool.
Brad Treliving seems to value powerplay a lot and Domi, Bertuzzi, and Klingberg will all fit into roles in that capacity almost from day one. It’s not like the Leafs were really struggling through their strength, since they’re at the top of the league overall, but that could bring them closer to the level of dominance they’ve been going for this past year.
I imagine we see a lot of a divide-and-rule approach to who plays what role. It seems likely that Marner and Domi will split up as the playmakers, similarly we’ll likely see Matthews and Nylander split as the high hole shooters, and Bertuzzi and Kniss will be split up for their net presence. Tavares could potentially be another low-key option in the first unit, especially if Klingberg is the point guy there as Toronto might want to double down on players around the net looking for deflections or rebounds. Likewise, any unit that has Morgan Rielly in it could potentially benefit from an extra shooter and if Nick Robertson is making Leafs, he could save some of that.
The Leafs had the second best regular season performance with 26% last season. In the playoffs, Toronto has already seen that number drop to 25% and they had the sixth best Powerplay. It’s probably the number two that Toronto is focusing on the most.
Looks like it’s Anaheim, Chicago, or a Matt Murray purchase
When it comes to goalkeepers, it seems like most teams already have two. They may not be happy with these two, but there seems to be at least a commitment to the two goalkeepers. If not, these teams are unlikely to have the $4,687,500 space for one or would rather spend that money on a good goalkeeper because they definitely want to compete. This really limits the destination options for Matt Murray and comes down to the two options you would most likely expect in Chicago and Anaheim.
Anaheim certainly has plenty of room, but with contracts with Terry, the Zegras and Drysdale still manage to easily hit the cap floor and may not be motivated to do more in a season that doesn’t seem destined for ticket selling strength.
The Blackhawks appear to be the strongest prospect and with only four NHL defensemen under contract, they may be looking for an addition there to get them ready to take on Murray. Any price higher than Conor Timmins should double the cards back to the idea of buying instead.
To further complicate matters, there is a trade clause for Matt Murray. If he’s in no rush to move again, you’d better believe Chicago and Anaheim are on his list.
Given what the Leafs would need to fork out to get Murray’s contract out and the challenge of finding a willing partner, it’s pretty clear they’re an upcoming buy. The Leafs have so many expiring contracts next season they can marshal their plans with about $2 million in empty space in 2024-25.