2023-05-13 13:33:03
The next few months are likely to be very eventful for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the organization cannot wait too long before taking action.
If the ownership group of the Queen City roster has the desire to change the staff and sack Brendan Shanahan and/or Kyle Dubas, they must give their successors enough time to prepare for the draft, which takes place on June 28. The fate of head coach Sheldon Keefe seems decided; it is hard to see how he might survive the storm.
Other pressing issues are those of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Both players will benefit from a no-move clause which will come into effect on July 1. And since Matthews will reach full free agency in the summer of 2024, the Maple Leafs run the risk of losing him for nothing.
Marner, for his part, will be free as the air the following summer.
The other two members of what is considered the “Big 4” in Toronto, William Nylander and John Tavares, will also be the subject of rumors.
They can’t all leave, but… they can’t all stay either, despite Mitch Marner, who was trying to stay optimistic following his team lost in the second round to the Florida Panthers on Saturday night .
“Our contracts are not coming to an end, there is still time, he recalled. I don’t know. It’s not our decision. But we believe in ourselves. We strongly believe in this core.”
“I love these guys. I don’t want any change,” defender Morgan Rielly said.
As James Mirtle explains well in his column on The Athletic platformthe only certainty is that there will be changes and that we will not bring the same group back on the ice next season.
Despite their many acquisitions at the deadline, the Maple Leafs will have the opportunity to draft in the 1st round; they hold the Boston Bruins selection that the Washington Capitals gave them in the Rasmus Sandin trade.
No less than 10 players will become unrestricted free agents this summer with the Leafs: Alexander Kerfoot, Ryan O’Reilly, David Kampf, Noel Acciari, Michael Bunting, Wayne Simmonds, Zach Aston-Reese, Justin Holl, Luke Schenn and Erik Gustafsson.
Goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who has done well this season, will be a restricted free agent and it is presumed that he might form a duo with young Joseph Woll next season.
All the elements are in place for a complete team transformation, both on the ice and on the fifth floor.
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