It’s been almost six years since the Toronto Maple Leafs last lost six hockey games in a row. That losing streak, which was bookended by a 4-2 loss in Las Vegas to the Golden Knights on November 19, 2019, doomed Mike Babcock’s fate as Toronto’s head coach. I don’t think Craig Berube is one loss away from being fired, but the Leafs are in danger of losing their sixth in a row tonight against the St. Louis Blues. I reluctantly bring up Babcock and the 2019-20 Leafs just to show how poorly Toronto is playing right now. These are times that are almost unprecedented for the Buds since Auston Matthews was drafted.
The team’s problems are well documented. Toronto has allowed more goals at five-on-five than any other team in the league. They struggle to generate sustained attacking pressure, and two-thirds of their defensive core are seemingly unable to make a breakaway pass to a teammate. There are numerous reasons why these issues persist, two of which are that the team is poorly constructed and currently very poorly coached. But I’d like to focus on something positive about Toronto’s start to the season: the play of some of their younger players.
The Leafs are one of the older teams in the NHL, and Brad Treliving built this team that way on purpose; he believes in the importance of experience. The team’s prospect pool is also one of the weakest in the league, as Treliving has traded away some of its promising prospects and future first-round picks to try to help the Leafs win a Cup. While I may not have agreed with the players he wanted to trade for in exchange for those prospects, I certainly don’t blame him for being aggressive. But with the Leafs sitting at 28th in the standings and the players Treliving acquired having little to no impact, the lack of young talent is a bit concerning.
Fortunately, one of the younger players Treliving couldn’t trade away is Nick Robertson, one of the Leafs’ best players to start the year after finally getting an extended opportunity to play in the top six. Robertson’s five goals and six assists for 11 points won’t blow anyone away, but he’s third on the team in expected goals at five-on-five and is noticeably better than any Leaf forward outside the big four. The 24-year-old has shown he can handle the physicality of the NHL consistently on a night-to-night basis and is one of the team’s best forwards. His skill has always been evident, and no one has ever questioned his work ethic, but Robertson was too often pushed out of dangerous areas of the ice and outmaneuvered in board battles. That’s not the case this year and his goal against Chicago on Saturday was a perfect example of his improvements in those aspects.
Although Robertson requested a trade from Toronto over a year ago due to a lack of opportunities, there is no way Treliving can give up on him now. The reality is that he is a top six prospect for the Leafs, he is cheap and he should continue to be given a role that fits how he has played.
The Leafs’ best young player is of course Matthew Knies, who has also started the year very productively with 22 points in 19 games. The most promising thing about Knies, however, is that he clearly has more to offer. The Arizona-born winger has only scored five goals so far and, despite his over points per game record, hasn’t been as dynamic as we’ve come to expect. However, I was encouraged by Knies’ performance on Saturday as he was tasked with driving his own line for the first time as a Leaf and seemed motivated by that challenge. What excited me most was Knies’ almost instant chemistry with rookie Easton Cowan. The two combined to create a number of A-scoring chances but were unlucky not to find the back of the net.
This is a combination that Craig Berube should stick to as both players have elite skills and a knack for finding their way to the center of the ice in the offensive zone. I love that Berube gave Cowan a chance to assert himself right away, and Cowan seemed completely comfortable playing in the top six of the NHL. The goals aren’t pouring in yet, but Cowan has a 61% expected goals share at even strength in his 11 games with the big club, which is easily the best among the Leafs. All that means is that when Cowan is on the ice, his team has dominated the game and is generating high-quality chances. The Leafs’ 2023 first-round pick was also on the ice with more Toronto scoring opportunities per 60 minutes than any other Leaf.
When Cowboy plays, good things happen, and unless something drastic happens, there’s no reason he should be in the AHL.
Speaking of the AHL, the last young Leaf I want to talk about is Jacob Quillan. Quillan signed with Toronto in early 2024 as an undrafted free agent coming out of college after winning a national championship at Quinnipiac University. Since then, he has played almost exclusively for the Marlies and was called up once last year for his NHL debut, in which he was knocked out of the game on a knee-on-knee hit by Nick Cousins.
Fortunately, Quillan didn’t miss a beat due to that injury and had a solid first season in professional hockey, tallying 18 goals and 19 assists in 67 AHL games. He then had an impressive preseason this year before being sent to the Marlies. He has carried that preseason form into his start to the season and has been the Marlies’ best player so far. Quillan has two goals and 12 assists in 14 games in the AHL, playing in all situations for the Leafs farm team. He was just called up by the big club yesterday due to the avalanche of injuries plaguing the Leafs, and with Nic Roy out for at least a week, Quillan should slide right into that role.
The poor thing about Quillan is that he is defensively responsible with offensive upside. He will immediately be one of the Leafs’ quicker players and has produced goals and assists at every stop throughout his career. I hope he gets the chance to play with experienced players, and I see no reason why he wouldn’t be a good fit to take Roy’s spot and form a line with Cowan and Knies. Considering how bad Max Domi has been defensively this year (outscored 18-8 at five-on-five), it makes sense to ride with Quillan and see if he can’t give you a cheaper, younger upgrade to what Domi brings while Domi plays further down the lineup.
Toronto is not a Stanley Cup contender as currently presented, not even close. The front office needs to start transitioning some of this roster, and now is a perfect time to start. Keep pushing Robertson, Knies and Cowan to become vital parts of this squad, and start to see what you have with guys like Quillan, Luke Haymes and perhaps young defenders like William Villeneuve and Henry Thrun. I don’t know how they can play worse than Phillipe Myers or Simon Benoit. I really don’t think it’s possible. This is not throwing in the white flag; it’s the opposite. We are not early in the season anymore. We are a quarter of the way through; the current schedule does not work. Toronto needs to start winning games, and pumping in young blood is the best way to do that.
Stats courtesy of moneypuck.com and Natural Stat Trick
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