Maple Leafs News & Rumours: Bobrovsky, Raddysh, McKenna, Paul, Rielly & Knies

The preseason is winding down, and soon the Toronto Maple Leafs will have to stop being an interesting collection of new players and start being a hockey team. That’s the thing about September. Everything still looks possible. Sergei Bobrovsky can rebound. Darren Raddysh can build on his 70-point season. Gavin McKenna can come in and surprise everybody. Auston Matthews can be healthy again. Morgan Rielly can find his game. Even the new bottom six can look deeper than it did a year ago.

Put all of that together, and Toronto certainly has a path forward. The problem is that an awful lot has to go right.

The Maple Leafs Need Some Big Seasons

There’s no question the Maple Leafs changed this team’s look. Bobrovsky, Raddysh and McKenna are the obvious additions, while Nick Paul and several other forwards have changed the depth around the stars. Toronto finished 32-36-14 and missed the playoffs last season, so a lot needed fixing.

The interesting part is how many of the new pieces are being asked to make a difference immediately. Raddysh is coming off a career season in Tampa Bay, with 70 points in 73 games. Toronto didn’t bring him in to be just another defenceman. He’s supposed to help move the puck, run the power play and provide offence from the back end. That’s a pretty big jump from what the Leafs got from their defence last season.

Then there’s Bobrovsky. The Maple Leafs are betting that the 37-year-old can put last season’s .877 save percentage behind him and get back closer to the goaltender who helped Florida win consecutive Stanley Cups. Anthony Stolarz gives Toronto an interesting partner in net, but health will be a big part of that equation.

And, of course, there’s McKenna. The No. 1 overall pick has already shown flashes of why Toronto was so excited to get him. He has spent time with John Tavares and William Nylander, and the Maple Leafs are giving the 18-year-old every opportunity to see how quickly he can adjust to the NHL.

That’s a lot of “if everything goes right.” Matthews has to be Matthews again. Nylander and Tavares have to produce. Raddysh has to be close to the player he was in Tampa. Bobrovsky has to rebound. Rielly needs a better season. And the blue line, which remains one of the older parts of the roster, has to stay healthy.

That’s a pretty long list.

So What’s Going on With Matthew Knies?

Then there is Matthew Knies. This one is interesting because there’s been enough trade chatter around Knies that it’s hard to ignore. At the same time, Toronto has a big, young, top-six forward who can score, get to the net and play with some physicality. Those aren’t exactly easy things to replace.

And Knies is only 23. The Maple Leafs have already made it clear they aren’t simply carrying over the roster they inherited. John Chayka has been building his own team since taking over as general manager, and that means some players who were important to the previous version of the Maple Leafs may not have the same status now.

But trading Knies would be a pretty significant decision. The Maple Leafs need young players who can grow with the team. They also need players who can play the kind of heavy, playoff-style hockey everybody keeps talking about. Knies can do some of that already, and he still has room to become more.

So the question isn’t whether Knies is a perfect player. He isn’t. The question is what Toronto would be giving up if it moved him. That’s where the smoke around his name gets interesting. Trade rumours have circulated, and Knies has acknowledged the speculation while saying he’s focused on playing in Toronto.

For now, he’s still a Maple Leaf. Toronto has rebuilt the roster around experience, but it can’t afford to lose the young players who give that experience-heavy roster some legs. I have to hope that the Knies rumours are little more than fiction. The Maple Leafs would seem silly not to see how he progresses in his career.

What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?

And maybe that’s the biggest thing to remember heading into Monday morning. This isn’t the same team that finished eighth in the Atlantic last season. Chayka has changed the goaltending, added offence to the blue line, brought in more depth and, somehow, won the lottery and walked away with McKenna.

But the new pieces don’t get Toronto back to the playoffs by themselves. The stars still have to do it. And that’s where the real story begins.

The Maple Leafs don’t need everything to go perfectly. But they probably need a whole lot of things to go right.