The Toronto Maple Leafs have suffered a serious blow. Captain Auston Matthews was announced to be out for the remainder of the season with a Grade 3 MCL tear. This occurred in Thursday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks, when Radko Gudas delivered an awful knee-on-knee hit. Gudas has been given a five-game suspension for the hit, while Matthews’ season has come to an abrupt end. So, without Matthews, what will the Leafs centre core look like now? Let’s take a look.
The current lineup
Without Matthews, the centre depth in Toronto is looking pretty bleak. They still have an acceptable first-line centre in John Tavares, but then it really falls off. Max Domi is now the man to run the second line, while Bo Groulx and Jacob Quillan bring up the third and fourth lines. It may not be pretty, but this was what to expect after a trade deadline of selling.
On the bright side, Groulx and Quillan are not just random players. They have both had great seasons in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies and absolutely deserve the chance they have received. Groulx leads the Marlies in points with 50 in 54 games. He was originally drafted by the Ducks, but proved to be a solid signing by the Leafs last summer. On the other hand, Quillan has 33 points in 38 games in the AHL. He was an undrafted college player who has worked his way up to the NHL. It is awesome to see them finally get a chance to play.
The current lineup is not amazing, but I think it is okay to run with this for the remainder of the season. The Leafs must be in tank mode now, as they will lose their first-round pick if it is not in the top five of the NHL Draft and sit ten points out of a playoff spot. The Leafs currently sit in 22nd place in the entire NHL and are only six points above the bottom five. If the season continues the way it has, the Leafs will certainly fall into the bottom five.
Trade deadline effects
Part of the reason why the Leafs’ lineup looks like this is because of multiple trade deadline moves. Centremen Scott Laughton and Nic Roy were traded at the deadline to diminish the centre core in Toronto. Roy was traded for a first and a fifth-round pick, which was an incredible return. Unfortunately, Leaf fans were extremely underwhelmed by the return for Laughton. He was dealt to the Los Angeles Kings for a third-round pick; it was truly awful asset management from Brad Treliving.
As upsetting as it is that the Leafs received a poor return for Laughton, it is not the only negative trade affecting this scenario. The Brandon Carlo trade from last season is still haunting the Leafs in two ways this season. Their first-round pick goes to Boston if the Leafs finish outside of the bottom five, and Fraser Minten is the centreman that they need right now. Minten was the biggest piece Boston received in the Carlo trade, which has become an absolute disaster.
Minten is currently serving as the first-line centreman in Boston. He is having a breakout season, being one of the brightest spots in the Bruins organization this year. Minten has 30 points through 66 games. Not too shabby for a 21-year-old rookie. It never gets easier being a Leafs fan.
Who else could get called up?
Looking at the Leafs organization, there are a couple of other options to roll as a depth centreman. Still in the AHL are Luke Haymes and Travis Boyd.
While Haymes’ numbers don’t jump off the page, he’s been on an absolute heater in the AHL. Ten of his 15 goals have come in the last 16 games, including a hat-trick on Feb. 25. Haymes was signed as a college free agent after his school year ended last year and is one of the Leafs top prospects. He should be given a shot to play, as Toronto should want to see how he looks in the NHL. His game has really blossomed late in the season.
The second option is Travis Boyd. He has already spent a fair bit of time in the NHL outside of Toronto. Boyd played in the NHL for parts of the last eight seasons and is best known for his years as an Arizona Coyote. Here, he put up a career high in points and played two full NHL seasons. Since then, he has fallen off a bit and has now landed in the AHL. Boyd spent some time with the Leafs in the 2020–21 season, but he appeared in only 20 games. The 32-year-old is now potentially playing his first full season without any NHL action since 2017–2018.
If the Leafs want the rest of the season to be productive, they need to see who they’ve got in the AHL. They’ve waited too long to call guys up this season, but there is still time to experiment and bring players up who might be ready. Who do you think they should call up?
