The departure of Auston Matthews from the lineup this week highlighted how fragile the Toronto Maple Leafs centre position is. While Max Domi and John Tavares proved to be an adequate short term solution, the lack of a two-way option on the top two lines was noticeable. You can’t help but wonder what happens if and when the Leafs are down two centres. The Leafs do have options and if the goal is to be at the top of the league or even the top of their division, exploring what is needed to improve centre depth should be a priority for Brad Treliving & Co. if it is not already.

One of the things that confused me in the initial go of putting William Nylander at centre was the lack of a supporting cast on his line. While it was very clear what Craig Berube was attempting to do in creating a capable a dominant two-way line with Matthews, Mitch Marner, and Matthew Knies, I’ve had a hard time getting past the fact that Marner seems like the perfect fit for Nylander when he’s utilized at centre.

Marner’s defensive zone upside bails out Nylander a lot. At the same time, Marner is one hell of a co-pilot offensively that can give Nylander the opportunity to score, something that has historically fallen off every time he’s been moved to centre.

This feels like a simple argument and that’s because it is. If the Leafs want to find out if Nylander at centre is at all viable or conclude that they can officially put a fork in this project, giving him his best chance at success seems logical.

Understandably, going with what Berube felt was his strongest lineup against the Bruins makes sense, and unnecessarily throwing Nylander to the wolves also seems fair, but games against Detroit and Montreal are great opportunities to test what Nylander can do in this regard. And if not now, looking at other softer parts of the schedule for exploring this idea would make sense. I’d say that the California road trip would be the ideal time to try this out, but unfortunately this season that trip comes in late March and post trade deadline. The best time might come in the early part of December when the Leafs have a run of Chicago, Nashville, Washington, and Pittsburgh or the following week when they face Anaheim, Detroit, and Buffalo.

It’s premature to talk about Fraser Minten in the Leafs lineup but here I am doing it anyway. With only four professional games to his name heading into this weekend, and the priority being about getting Minten into the Marlies lineup, penciling Minten is as a centre solution for the Leafs is definitely premature.

That being said, a 20-year old top prospect who could bring upside the Maple Leafs middle six forward group is hard to ignore and the Leafs knowing if Minten can be an NHLer in any capacity by the trade deadline should be one of the priorities for the Marlies and the player development team.

Getting Minten into some top six reps on the Marlies as soon as he’s good to go will be important. Minten is going to need tough minutes. He’s also going to need to be put with players that can finish to determine what upside exists offensively.

And when Minten looks ready, the Leafs need to prioritize giving him a look in the NHL. If Minten can be a short-term solution as well as the likely long-term solution for the Leafs, he’ll make Brad Treliving’s job at lot easier at the trade deadline.

Even if things were to go right with the Nylander experiment, and Fraser Minten plays his way onto the Maple Leafs roster, the Leafs still could use some help in the second/third line centre area of their lineup card. It’s great to have options and Domi, Nylander, Holmberg, Minten, etc. represent possibilities, and guys like Dewar, Jarnkrok, and Lorentz are all players that can be trusted in a fourth line centre capacity as well, so it’s less about a warm body and more about having someone that can comfortably perform that role.

The Leafs benefited greatly from bringing in Ryan O’Reilly to solidify the middle of the ice and while none of the players I’ve listed below are at that Ryan O’Reilly tier (we’ll save those takes for closer to the trade deadline), there are some viable rental options sitting on teams that are likely to be sellers come deadline time.

Luke Kunin has been rumoured as a Leafs target before and will likely continue as such until the end of time. The case for Kunin beyond a 3C is hard to make and in fact, on a top team he’s probably a guy you use on your fourth line instead.

Where Kunin generates some interest is that he’s getting key minutes on a bad San Jose team and that could prepare him for sliding up and down a lineup card as needed. He’s shown some offence when given offensive players to work with, and perhaps most importantly, he hits everyone. PLAYOFF HOCKEY, BABY!

Kunin is also a right shot and face-off aficionados will be all over that.

The catch, he’s not really being utilized as a centre all that much nor has been consistently throughout his career. He might be another spot duty option if acquired late in year and not given much time to acclimate to the role.

Jake Evans is an ideal candidate for the Leafs. He’s affordable. He’s physical. He’s a good Toronto boy. He actually takes most of his shifts at centre. The catch is that it isn’t always easy for the Canadiens and Maple Leafs to make a trade and while history proves that trades do happen, holding your breath for Evans isn’t a good idea.

Evans has been off to a somewhat hot start offensively (by his standards) this year and seven points in 14 games is something you happily take on your third line.

The fact that Evans is a strong penalty killer isn’t likely lost on the Maple Leafs either and with the market already heating up on Jake, expect him to be moved rather than re-signed in Montreal.

Morgan Frost is another player where it feels like I’m stating the obvious. While there hasn’t been any reported interest in Morgan Frost from the Leafs perspective, he’s a player that for at least the past couple of seasons seemed like a good fit.

Frost isn’t a rental like the two previously listed centres and the fact that the Flyers are utilizing Frost in their top six and as the centre on their top powerplay unit might point to a renewed interest in a player that was frequently a scratch at the beginning of the 2023-24 season.

The results aren’t there, however. And that might be a concern for teams interested in Frost as well as the Flyers. His role might be elevated but 14 games in and Frost has just one goal and six points. That’s in the context of the Flyers being quite bad and Frost having inexperienced linemates, but that probably takes some excitement off the idea of acquiring him.

Frost will find his 40-point pace, there’s just been a history of feast or famine when it comes to his point production. And while Frost’s defensive statistics point to him being a viable two-way option, his decision-making process has been a concern for John Tortorella and limited his usage.

The options might be far from perfect, but Brad Treliving is not a swing for the fences guy (usually) and the Edmundson, Lyubushkin, and Dewar acquisitions at the last deadline point to a GM that isn’t going big game hunting.