The Connor Dewar signing saga is over and with it a chance to exhale after holding Leafs fans in suspense for the past few months. No? It was just a thing that happened? Well, small things happening is as good as it gets for the next month or so. There’s still the small thing signing of Alex Steeves at some point and either the signing or the trade of Nick Robertson. While none of this is particularly eventful, it’s a reminder that Treliving is still putting in time at the office or has good phone reception on his boat.

With the absence of news, we’re left to opine, and here are a couple of those thoughts below:

The Leafs have taken a NIMBY approach to their bottom six, treating it like a proposed playground. There has been a reluctance to give the kids room to play. Injuries have opened the door for Pontus Holmberg and Bobby McMann (neither exactly kids), but Nick Robertson has struggled to get a consistent run in the lineup even with improved health. Matthew Knies, in some ways the exception, did see his ice time and role steadily decrease throughout the 2023-24 season and it leads to the question what do the Leafs do when they should have two talented options in Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan making their case for a regular role this September.

Here’s where I take a step back and appreciate veteran hockey players. Having no nonsense options like Calle Jarnkrok or David Kampf might not make sense on the outside of the team where they look like filler and simply the means to kill time on the ice until better options are rested. I’ll avoid calling them cardio merchants because even if that’s what they are, there is a value to that type of player whether we want to see it or not. They are comfort food for coaches and the same reason why Martin Marincin was valuable as a depth blueliner. They play a simple game that won’t stress their coach out. I’d argue too much of the Leafs roster was about not stressing Keefe out instead of making it better, hopefully Craig Berube has a different mindset, but every coach is going to have their limits on the number of rookies they want to take on and with a room full of strangers, this is either the best or worst time to be a rookie it depending on how Berube’s coaching style. It’s they either just as much work or too much work in a season where everything is new.

The thing is, even if it isn’t kids, the Leafs can explore options like Holmberg and Dewar as cheaper replacements for Calle Jarnkrok and David Kampf. While there hasn’t been much to complain about in Jarnkrok’s game, and Kampf’s penalty killer status would be hard for the Leafs to ignore, Holmberg and Dewar as regulars over Jarnkrok and Kampf represent over $2.5M in cap savings if the Leafs can deal the forwards, and it creates an opportunity for players like Minten and Cowan to get extended looks, and possibly show Nick Robertson that he’ll have a permanent roster spot. If they don’t pan out as planned the Leafs still have Jacob Quillan, Alex Steeves, and Nikita Grebenkin that look like interesting options as well. It doesn’t need to be seen as gifting anyone a roster spot, call it what it is, an exploration of upside and potential.

Some of this applies on the Leafs blueline as well. Topi Niemela, Cade Webber, Mikko Kokkonen, and Marshall Rifai might be hard sells for spots in the Leafs pairings, but over the course of the season, tapping into the Marlies mystery box might have more appeal than Jani Hakanpaa would have had anyway.

In the regular season, the Leafs won’t come undone by the performance of their bottom six, at least not significantly. Toronto can test what they can do up until the trade deadline and then reassess where they need veteran support at that time. Considering the average age of the Leafs now exceeds 29 years, embracing a small youth movement shouldn’t be a crazy thing to ask for.

The Stolarz/Woll tandem was a bit of a tough sell for me. It still is. Despite the fact that there have been plenty of unspectacular goaltenders that have taken their team to the Stanley Cup, I can’t think of any team that has been so fully committed to two goaltenders who have never played a half season’s worth of games in the NHL in a single season. The Leafs are seemingly taking on a lot of risk and then hoping that Matt Murray is a suitable safety net. It’s a little wild.

I have changed my tune a little when it became clear the Leafs have an out. Not only do they also have Dennis Hildeby, who looks like he at least deserves a bit of a look in the NHL if opportunity permits, but this could be a potentially good season for acquiring a rental goaltender at the trade deadline.

When looking at teams not likely to make the playoffs and pending unrestricted goaltenders, this is the list of players that comes up on PuckPedia:

Some names like Ullmark might particularly stand out as meaningful, and others like Cal Petersen and Ville Husso are definitely ones to avoid, but the point remains that even if the trade deadline is about upgrading from Matt Murray as the third option or it’s about giving better backup support to whichever of Woll or Stolarz that’s seemingly running with the net, the Leafs have viable options to get through the year.

The Leafs are believers in Woll, his contract extension proves that, but at the same time, it’s nice that there is a Plan C and Plan D option that don’t seem too awful.