The children
The time has never been better to give Easton Cowan a bigger role. The Leafs (checks notes) did the right thing and gave the rookie 15 minutes against the Lightning, and 15 minutes now seems like the bare minimum for a player who is ideally a big part of the franchise to get back on track.
His minutes need to tighten up and he needs to enter 2026-27 prepared for top-level competition, or give the Maple Leafs insight into how far he is to handle that and give him a meaningful development plan for the summer.
Jacob Quillan being with the Maple Leafs for the rest of the season is also the right decision, unless he’s clearly not an NHLer in the eyes of the Maple Leafs brass.
Quillan’s situation isn’t the same as Cowan’s and there’s no need to find a lot of minutes for him, but seeing if he has anything to add to the penalty kill could be an area of exploration the Maple Leafs want to test. Throwing him in at the deep end is somewhat necessary given his impending free agent status, and while qualifying him seems likely, knowing whether he’ll be placed on the Leafs’ fourth line or 13th forward next season versus coming to camp next season and having to play his way onto the roster are two very different things.
To qualify or not to qualify
In addition to Quillan, the Maple Leafs have Matias Maccelli, Nick Robertson, Henry Thrun and William Villeneuve that they will have to figure out.
Maccelli appears to be developing strong chemistry with William Nylander, but having success with Nylander is very different from being able to do things on his own and the Maple Leafs should want that from a top-six forward. Qualifying Maccelli also comes at a high price as his actual salary for 2025-26 is $4.25 million and the idea of Maccelli coming with such a high cap hit might not be a good one even if he has produced.
Nick Robertson would be cheaper to re-sign, but his inconsistency and the fact that he doesn’t bring much to the table when he’s not producing makes him a question mark moving forward with the Maple Leafs. The Leafs need to make significant changes to their lineup and Robertson taking up space in the roster means he too will have to make a case to remain a Maple Leaf in the coming games.
Henry Thrun and William Villeneuve should also feature in the remaining schedule. It seems likely that the Maple Leafs will bring Villeneuve back, but that is still largely based on a strong 2024-2025 season and still remains a mystery when it comes to what he would look like in the NHL. Considering the season is essentially over for the Leafs, it makes more sense to find out what the Leafs have in Villeneuve than to be reminded of Philippe Myers’ shortcomings.
Tank for the lottery or push to make the Bruins pick worse
Will the Maple Leafs play for pride and try to push their draft pick out of the top 10, or will the Leafs see if they can drop to the bottom five of the league and still use their 2026 pick.
The Maple Leafs are just three points shy of the sixth-worst record in the league, but it will take a significant run from a bad team to make up for the eight-point lead the Leafs have over the teams currently in the bottom five. Of course, if the Leafs continue to be bad, they have a better chance of winning the draft lottery as well and that could be the game.
The reality is that players are not told to tank and they will play to win, even if the effort is sometimes questionable. Brad Treliving could help the tank by bringing in a few Marlies for the looks and Craig Berube could help balance ice time instead of leaning on stars, but they both have to make arguments to keep their jobs and tanking probably won’t do that.
The Bruins get a great pick in Brandon Carlo. You don’t have to make peace with that, but understand that it is the most likely outcome.
If necessary, find out how much coaching was the problem
If the Maple Leafs decided to let Craig Berube leave early (which is unlikely at this point), there could be some valuable experiments in the limited time Toronto would play under a new coach.
To what extent was Berube’s approach responsible for the decline of players like Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly? Could either player see their numbers improve under a new coach after two years of declining results, or should the Leafs accept that they are in their prime?
Take a long look at Stolarz
Dennis Hildeby is on the rise and while having three good goaltenders next season wouldn’t be the worst outcome next season, this team will ultimately need to trade some assets to improve pressing areas of need. Goaltending could be an area of strength that the Leafs need to work on and some strong games from Stolarz getting his numbers back up could help.
It’s still something to do
Honestly, even if it’s background noise, people will still tune in to the Maple Leafs. Perhaps there will be a flood of more reasonably priced tickets for home games, creating the chance to see a game in real life without taking out a mortgage.
Watching the Leafs may not be a priority, but there will be other curious moments, like giving Benoit-Olivier Groulx a cup of coffee or potentially bizarre experiments like Dakota Joshua on the top line, that will be worth watching for a period or two.
The most important thing to avoid is seasonal effects. As the Maple Leafs’ season winds down, they may be able to pick up a few more wins thanks to playoff-bound teams managing their stars and goaltenders differently to rest them and avoid injuries. Improved results in the remaining games do not mean the Leafs are improving and they will still be a full-time job for the Hockey Operations staff this offseason.
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