Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving is looking for additional depth at left wing. After signing Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson for help on defense, Treliving is looking to replace Tyler Bertuzzi, who Toronto lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in free agency, according to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman.
“I think there are things percolating out there,” Friedman wrote in 32 Thoughts. “Including Toronto considering left-wing options.”
The Maple Leafs will enter training camp with Matthew Knies, Max Domi, and Bobby McMann as their main options at left wing.
Leafs looking for better postseason fortune
After coming back from a 3-1 deficit to force Game 7 in their best-of-7, first-round series against the Boston Bruins in 2024, the Maple Leafs lost in a 2-1 overtime nail-biter. Boston was eliminated in the second round by the Florida Panthers. And Toronto fired head coach Sheldon Keefe shortly after the first-round exit.
Craig Berube was named head coach in May. Berube guided the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup in 2019. He hopes to eventually compete at the same level with the Maple Leafs but understands growing into a championship contender will take time.
“We obviously, if you look at the roster first and foremost… there’s some great players here,” Berube said, per the Associated Press. “And a great opportunity to build a team that can move forward and become something, not better, but get over the hump a little bit here.”
Even Bruins superstar David Pastrnak admitted that the Leafs were the better team on paper between the two.
“Pastrnak has one regret from last season: that the Bruins did not get to a ‘one-shot Game 7’ against Florida, but admitted the Panthers were deeper and better than Boston,” per Friedman’s X, formerly Twitter. “He’s excited about their additions. ‘We proved a lot of people wrong last year. We were not even supposed to make the playoffs. We beat a better team on paper.'”
Pastrnak scored the thrilling overtime winner in Game 7, eliminating the Leafs in the first-round once again.
Berube, a former NHL forward, played 1,054 games over 17 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, Calgary Flames, New York Islanders, and Leafs from 1987 through 2003. He finished his career with 60 goals, 150 points, and 3,149 penalty minutes.
It will be interesting to see if the Leafs end up adding another winger or two ahead of training camp.
