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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – The Maple Leafs have a long spring and summer ahead after being bounced from the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Boston Bruins.

With just over two months to go before free agency opens on July 1, Toronto has a number of personnel questions to ponder in order to have the best chance of advancing deeper into the postseason next year.

1. What’s next for Lou Lamoriello?

In his decades as a National Hockey League general manager, Lamoriello has tried to keep the media conversation on his hockey teams, not him. That’s certainly not changing now.

Lamoriello’s three-year contract with the Leafs expires this year, and he was asked point-blank twice in his year-end media availability Friday if he’d like to continue being Toronto’s GM.

“I just won’t talk about it,” he said. “My focus right now is doing what my responsibilities are and allowing that [situation] to take its course.”

It is possible Lamoriello, who will turn 76 in October, could come back to the Leafs in an advisory role, leaving the top job to be filled internally by a candidate like Kyle Dubas. Leafs’ president Brendan Shanahan brought Dubas to Toronto as an assistant general manager back in 2014, and Dubas has been the GM of Toronto’s American Hockey League affiliate since 2015. 

With Shanahan, assistant general manager Mark Hunter and Lamoriello potentially by his side, Dubas could be ready to take the reins of the big club.

Knowing how dedicated Lamoriello is to winning, and how much time and effort he’s exerted bringing the Leafs’ franchise back to life, it’s hard to believe he’d want to step away from the organization entirely. 

But the Leafs are also aware of the interest in Dubas from other NHL clubs, and it may be time for them to see if he can handle the responsibility Shanahan had envisioned for him when he arrived four years ago.

2. Who stays, who goes from pending UFA class?

The Leafs have six players on their active roster who will become unrestricted free agents July 1 – Forwards Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk, Leo Komarov, Dominic Moore and Tomas Plekanec, and defenceman Roman Polak. It seems most unlikely that Moore or Plekanec will return, given Moore was a healthy scratch for 32 regular-season games and five playoff games, while Plekanec always projected as a rental acquisition for Toronto at the trade deadline. Polak has been a favourite of Leafs’ management (and coach Mike Babcock’s), but it’s doubtful they’ll have room for him in a top-six role next season. 

That leaves Bozak, van Riemsdyk and Komarov as the UFAs Toronto will be more interested in negotiating with. Of the three, Bozak and Komarov (who were both alternate captains the last two seasons) seem the most invested in returning. Neither has ever played for another NHL team and in their final media availabilities on Friday both cited their family situations as factoring heavily into the forthcoming decision.

“It would be my top priority to stay here,” said Bozak, who has played nine seasons for the Leafs. “My family loves it here, my kid loves it here; he thinks he owns the place. It’ll be tough on him if I’m not back.”

“The organization is unbelievable. The coaching staff is really good. It’s been the best teammates to play with,” added Komarov, after finishing his fifth season in Toronto. “The fans are unbelievable. My wife likes the city. I’d like to play here; it’s been a great city and everything. So we’ll see.”

Van Riemsdyk is coming off the best statistical year of his career with 36 goals and 54 points, and at 28 years old has a better chance than Bozak (who had 11 goals and 43 points this season) or Komarov (seven goals, 19 points) to cash in elsewhere, on what could be the last major contract of his career. 

He spoke about the “weird emotions” of knowing that, after five and a half seasons with the Leafs, Friday could be the last time he leaves that dressing room as a member of the team.

Ultimately, though, for the players and Toronto’s front office, the final decisions will be heavily rooted in doing what’s best for business. 

“We think they’re important players,” said Babcock. “The big thing is they’ve been able to do is, they worked hard to set themselves up for the situation they have right now. They should exercise their option and do what’s best for them and their families. I don’t think the Leafs are out of the mix. In saying that, business is business and we don’t know what will happen.”

3. How does Toronto fix its defence?

There was plenty to take away from the Leafs’ postseason series against the Bruins, but the most glaring deficiency Toronto showcased in defeat was on the blueline.
Over seven games, the Leafs ceded 28 goals, and were tied for the second-most goals-against per game (4.00) of any team in the playoff field. That was well above the 2.80 goals-against per game Toronto gave up in the regular season, but if advancing in the playoffs is at the top of the Leafs’ wish list, they need a defence that can help them do it.

Polak hitting the free-agent market will open up at least one spot in the Leafs’ top-six, with Morgan Rielly, Ron Hainsey, Nikita Zaitsev, Travis Dermott and Jake Gardiner all projected to come back. Should that group remain intact, Toronto will need one top-pairing defenceman to join them to truly take a step forward. 

Lamoriello and Babcock were both pressed on whether improving the Leafs’ defence would be the main priority this summer, and both said all options would be explored to make Toronto more competitive. In addition, Lamoriello added that it was no secret the Leafs had already tried to make a move on defence before the trade deadline, but the price was too high. But at this point, Lamoriello (or the Leafs’ next general manager) may just have to pay up. John Carlson and Calvin de Haan are the best free agent options in a weak 2018 class of UFA defencemen, making a trade the more appealing option.

What the series against the Bruins showed was that when the Leafs are stymied offensively, and their best players can’t get through the neutral zone and have an impact, Toronto’s blueline isn’t strong enough to be a game-changer. 

Ideally, the Leafs’ young guns – Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander – will continue to get better, but to be a true contender the team needs a backend that can complement their talent up front. Would it be worth trading a high-calibre winger like Nylander, who is a pending restricted free agent, for a top-flight defenceman? Toronto is well-situated to absorb the loss of a perennial 20-goal scorer, which is what Nylander projects to grow into over the course of his career, but that wouldn’t make the decision any easier.

Last spring’s European acquisitions, Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman, didn’t stick in the NHL as Toronto had hoped, losing jobs to Polak and Dermott, and Connor Carrick is four years into his NHL career and no closer to securing an everyday role with the Leafs. It’s been rumoured that KHL defenceman Igor Ozhiganov will sign with Toronto in the off-season after Babcock and Lamoriello went overseas to meet with him last summer, but how his game will translate to North America is anyone’s guess.

The Leafs’ best bet of improving their defence is via trade for a tried-and-tested NHL blueliner who can make a difference immediately. That won’t come cheap, but the Leafs can’t afford another season where their defence costs them when it matters most.

4. Is Leafs’ centre depth in trouble (again?)

Toronto’s depth down the middle was a major question mark going into the 2017-18 campaign. Fast forward to the end of the season, and their organizational depth at the position is still precarious.

With Bozak, Moore and Plekanec all pending unrestricted free agents, Matthews and Nazem Kadri are the only centres that are sure bets to be back in the Leafs’ lineup. 
Nylander and Patrick Marleau both spent time at centre last season, but Babcock was non-committal on whether Nylander would move there full time in the future (“it depends on our lineup”) and Marleau is significantly less effective at centre than he is on the wing. 

The Leafs have a couple centres with potential in the American Hockey League, including Miro Aaltonen. Signed out of the KHL last March, Aaltonen pushed in training camp for a job with the Leafs but has ultimately benefitted from a year in the minors to get acclimated to North American ice. Centring the Toronto Marlies’ top line, Aaltonen has 20 goals and 43 points in 64 games this season and will once again be a possibility for the Leafs in a bottom-six role next season.

While he still has some hope of breaking into the NHL, it’s difficult to predict what’s next for Frederik Gauthier. He’s had opportunities to seize a spot with the Leafs (including during a failed nine-game audition last season) but lacks the killer instinct Babcock wants from a 6-foot-5, 232-pound centre. Gauthier may get another chance in training camp to show some snarl, but if he can’t the Leafs’ options at the position are somewhat limited.

Bozak remains a viable option to return if the Leafs can offer him a deal on par with what he’d get elsewhere. Given the premium on finding good two-way pivots, Toronto won’t want to wait long on bringing Bozak back into the fold if they have any question about the preparedness of either Aaltonen or Gauthier to make the NHL jump in a few months. 

5. Do the Leafs really need a captain?

It’s essentially the same question Babcock put back to reporters on Friday – in a market as heavily scrutinized as Toronto, do the Leafs want to subject one player to increased pressure by branding him with the C? 

It’s been two and a half years since Toronto’s last captain, Dion Phaneuf, departed via trade and ever since, the Leafs have only anointed alternate captains for that very reason. 

Reading between the lines of what Babcock said in his presser, it sounds as if the Leafs have someone in mind for the captaincy; they’re just unsure yet if putting the weight on his shoulders will truly benefit the team. It has made sense the last two seasons not to have a captain given the Leafs were still learning about their young players and they didn’t want to hand the role out to a placeholder. 

Matthews seems the most logical choice for the job, given he’s the Leafs’ best player and is already the face of the franchise. The pressure and scrutiny Babcock talked about avoiding by handing out the captaincy is already a daily part of his career; why not give him the letter to coincide with the responsibility he’s already undertaken?

And if the Leafs don’t name the franchise’s 19th captain, it could lead to more questions. Do they not have a single player in the room they can trust in that leadership capacity? Does management not feel any player can command the respect of the room the way they need to? Or be able to answer the bell with the media when necessary? 

As expectations continue to mount for the Leafs, having a captain who can rally the team and be a spokesman in good and bad times only stands to help. If the Leafs believe they have that player inside their room already, there’s no sense not making it known.