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21 Maple Leafs takes on the first quarter of the season: Leaflets
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Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Jon Steitzer
Nov 22, 2025, 06:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 21, 2025, 13:05 EST
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Whether you consider the first quarter wrapped up at the end of the 20th game, the end of the 21st game, or at the 30 minute mark of the 21st game, the first quarter of the Maple Leafs season is over. With game 22 set for Saturday night, it seems like a perfect time to unburden as many opinions as possible before the second quarter makes these takes null and void.
  1. More than anything else, the Leafs are too slow. They skate slow, move the puck slow, and don’t win races to the puck. Every opponent has a built-in head start. Finding a way to get players like Quillan into the lineup is a good first step in fixing that problem and the Leafs need to look at faster defencemen too.
  2. Max Domi is in a square peg/round hole situation for the Maple Leafs and there doesn’t seem to be a path to success for him with this team. It might be a bad contract for bad contract trade, but Domi isn’t a fit in the Leafs lineup.
  3. The Leafs need to plan for the future and that means Robertson and Maccelli being put in places they can thrive. The Leafs are doing that with Robertson but need to find Matias’ fit.
  4. In contrast, Cowan should be sent down until the Leafs are ready for him. Cowan might be at NHL level, but the club needs to come with a better plan for him.
  5. Put Tavares, Nylander, and Matthews on separate lines 5v5. You can always blend lines later in the game if needed but start them separate to become more difficult to play against.
  6. Put Chris Tanev with Morgan Rielly when he returns. That combination plus Jake McCabe taking on second lines instead of top lines seems like a defensive improvement.
  7. Based on age and who you need to be the future of the team, Woll should be the 1A, in theory. Play will ultimately dictate things but prioritizing Woll in net the rest of the way makes the most sense.
  8. Bobby McMann’s future intrigues me a lot. Curious what his next contract should look like and if his asking price is over $2.5M AAV, the Leafs should shop him as a cheap scoring option even if does make Toronto even slower.
  9. I’d really like to see Scott Laughton used on the wing when Nicolas Roy returns. Keep Quillan as the 4C and see if Laughton and Roy together improve them both.
  10. It was either the best thing or the worst thing the Leafs could have done by taking the C away from Tavares but either way he is playing great and is showing he’s a true leader.
  11. While sticking with the praise part of these takes, I admit that I have been too harsh on Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the past and his offensive output this year is appreciated.
  12. I often say good things about William Nylander, so I’ll do so again here and say no one has answered the challenge of life without Marner like he has.
  13. I am an unapologetic supporter of Jake McCabe, but the Leafs need to stick with playing him on the left side.
  14. With the amount of cap space, the Leafs have beyond this season, retaining 50% on some players with term to get higher returns on players Toronto should want to ship out makes sense to me.
  15. If I’m Keith Pelley, I’m asking Brandon Pridham what he would do if he had the big office come trade deadline time.
  16. I want to see more of Calle Jarnkrok. There are plenty of other forwards who have made stronger cases for being healthy scratches than he has.
  17. Dakota Mermis and Philippe Myers are Marlies. Even with the current injury situation the Leafs can do better. If the Leafs don’t see Thrun or Villeneuve as ready, call up Benning.
  18. Toronto has to stop downplaying their injuries. I can appreciate that Craig Berube is not a doctor, but this is an annoying trend that might only bother me even though I don’t gamble.
  19. I get the sense that the organization is going to float the idea of a Morgan Rielly trade until he is finally worn down and agrees to waive his no movement clause. I’m just not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
  20. The Leafs can’t give up futures for a player over 30 again.
  21. You should be careful what you wish for, and it doesn’t feel great to have regular season games mean something again.
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