Former NHL Coach Shoots on the Maple Leafs Over Their Very Underwhelming Summer
Photo credit: Marc DesRosiers - Imagn Images
Former NHL head coach and Toronto native Bruce Boudreau unloads on the Maple Leafs after a very slow and underwhelming start to their off-season.
It should come as no surprise that the Toronto Maple Leafs have had an underwhelming start to their off-season with just a few depth signings to speak about in the first week of July.
They were handed some unfortunate news when Florida managed to extend all of Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Brad Marchand, effectively taking away 3 of the most sought after free agents in the class of 2025 -- all of whom were connected to the Leafs at some point.
They also tried to replace the loss of Mitch Marner with Brock Boeser before he went back to Vancouver, and failed to address their needs through the trade market for St. Louis Blues centre Jordan Kyrou before his NTC kicked in.
For now, they have added Matias Maccelli, Nicolas Roy, and Michael Pezzetta to the forward group, as well as having extended John Tavares and Matthew Knies, but understandably, that's not enough, which is a sentiment shared by Bruce Boudreau.
The former head coach admitted that he follows the Maple Leafs a lot more now but isn't happy with where they stand, at least compared to a couple of months ago when they were still playing in the playoffs, primarily due to their inability to find Mitch Marner's replacement.
"They're not better today than they were a month ago. Nic Roy is good, they wanted a third line centre, I think he can fill the bill. I think he's a good player, but losing Mitch Marner, and they probably won't because it's hard to do, but replace somebody that good a penalty killer, that good on the power play, that good setting up your number one scorer."
He continued by saying that while Maccelli, Pezzetta, and Roy will fill a need in the bottom-6 of the lineup, it's not enough to move the needle for a team that has Stanley Cup aspirations.
"I just don't see him [Maccelli] moving any needle to be quite frank. I don't think Pezzetta got a point in Montreal last year. He's a tough guy, but I don't think that's a real big improvement or help for the team.
Only time will tell if Brad Treliving can make the necessary adjustments to better position the Leafs for success in 2025-26, but like most of the fan base, Boudreau is unimpressed by the current state of affairs, and I don't blame him.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 6 | 2095 ANSWERS Former NHL Coach Shoots on the Maple Leafs Over Their Very Underwhelming Summer Do you agree with Bruce Boudreau's statement? | ||
| Yes | 1413 | 67.4 % |
| No | 682 | 32.6 % |
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