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[Toronto Maple Leafs]

Toronto’s goalie depth is no joke and it changes everything: Alberga’s Take

If there was one thing that I was reminded of watching the Dennis Hildeby extension come across the wire on Tuesday morning, it’s that the Toronto Maple Leafs are absolutely STACKED in between the pipes right now.

Seriously, I don’t remember a time this organization possessed this much crease depth —at least in recent memory.

But honestly, you would probably need to go back all the way to the dreaded Tuukka Rask/Justin Pogge era, right?

Any way you slice it, the Leafs have every reason to believe in Hildeby, even though the 24-year-old’s coming off a turbulent campaign. The three years they handed him will not only give him time to develop but it will also allow him to push for a job at the NHL level in due time. The contract doesn’t become a one-way deal until Hildeby’s 26, when presumably, everyone should have a pretty good understanding of what he truly is. Indisputably, it was a tidy piece of business by Brad Treliving and company.

Between Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll at the NHL level and Hildeby and Russian Artur Akhtyamov in the American Hockey League, this administration has made the days of Michael Hutchinson easy to forget. Not to pick on him but it seemed like the Dubas era featured about 53 different netminders to dawn the blue and white. Needless to say, acquiring David Rittich for a third-round pick in 2022 will continue to haunt my dreams for many years to come.

Most importantly, Toronto’s evolving crease depth gives them flexibility to do a few things down the road. All in all, it’s probably one of the reasons why they’ve been able to slow play the Stolarz situation a bit here, too. They love him, but at the end of the day, they’re not going to overpay to retain him. It makes a lot of sense.

In the grand scheme of things, teams are always looking for goaltending, which bodes well for the Leafs on the trade-front moving forward. For instance, fresh off another disappointing loss in the Stanley Cup Final, the Edmonton Oilers are dying for an upgrade in goal. Barring something unforeseen, it doesn’t look like Stan Bowman will be able to get the job done —at least before opening night. They have a championship calibre roster paired with a mediocre crease, and ultimately, that’s why they keep falling short when it matters most.

With puck drop just around the corner, it’s no secret that the Leafs would still like to do a few things. That said, they will likely play the long game here, and that’s the correct course of action. In the coming months, it will be fascinating to see if the Stolarz/Woll tandem can replicate what they did last season in 2025-26. In addition to that, there’s reason to be excited for what’s to come, too. If Hildeby and Akhtyamov can continue to develop and improve, the Leafs will be sitting pretty for many years to come.

Bottom line: You can never have enough goaltending.

This is a strange feeling.

Source: https://theleafsnation.com/news/tor...epth-no-joke-changes-everything-albergas-take

 

[Toronto Maple Leafs]

Scott Laughton confesses his love for Tie Domi, Wade Belak, & the Pat Quinn era: Leafs Morning Take

September is here, and with that, we’re now just 35 days away from regular season puck drop.

Time flies.

We covered quite a few different topics on the latest summer edition of Leafs Morning Take. Naturally, considering all the hoopla starting the build-up, yes, we did discuss Connor McDavid for a few minutes. It will be fun to document that whole situation moving forward —that’s for sure. It’s amazing how quickly the narrative is starting to shift in that market and the hockey world. It’s still wishful thinking to suggest he leaves Edmonton next summer, but we’ll see what happens.

Brought to you by Simply Spiked, we kicked things off by diving headfirst into all the Mitch Marner/Darren Ferris noise from the past week. Unsurprisingly, Jay Rosehill had a few things to get off his chest regarding Marner’s sit-down with TSN’s Mark Masters. Needless to say, we’re very excited for January, when the Leafs will play Vegas not once but two times. The Marner camp continues to paint him as the victim, and unfortunately, that’s just not going to fly —at least not in these parts. Over the coming days, there’s no question that the Leafs side of the story will come out. This is getting ridiculous. It’s time to move on. We’re pumped about the 2025-26 Maple Leafs.

Speaking of which, after that discussion, Leafs forward Scott Laughton dropped by the show. It was a very candid interview. We talked about his trade to Toronto, the difficult transition, and what it’s been like living out a childhood dream. Additionally, we asked Laughton, who’ entering the final year of his deal, if there’s been any contract discussions with the Leafs this summer. He said no. That said, he did admit he’s open to being a Leaf for many years to come. This opportunity is what he’s been dreaming of his entire career, so that makes sense.

Then, we got into an extensive goaltending conversation. Firstly, we piggybacked off David Pagnotta’s reporting from Tuesday that suggests that the Leafs and Anthony Stolarz have begun to discuss a possible contract extension. Unsurprisingly, we both agreed that the best course of action would be to extend Stolarz as soon as possible. Assuming everything comes together over the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see what his next contract looks like. We were just spit balling, but three to five years accompanied with an average annual value of five to six million would make a lot of sense.

On top of that, we loved what the Leafs did with Dennis Hildeby and that extension. Quietly, it shows that the organization believes in his future, which is great to see. The new deal allows Hildeby time to develop in the AHL while continuing to push for NHL playing time. It’s a win, win situation. Love to see it!

As we start to ramp up for October, our next episode will drop next Tuesday, September 9th. Talk then! We’ve got an exciting interview planned, so don’t you dare miss it!

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Source: https://theleafsnation.com/news/sco...de-belak-the-pat-quinn-era-leafs-morning-take

 

[Toronto Maple Leafs]

What does a successful 2025-26 season look like for David Kampf?

David Kampf starting the 2025-26 season as a Toronto Maple Leaf doesn’t seem like a popular idea and as such the notion of a successful season for David Kampf is one that he doesn’t play in a Maple Leafs uniform. We’ll get that idea out of the way first because variations of that response are being quoted across social media in reaction to the title of this post.

Looking at how the past couple of seasons for David Kampf have gone it is understandable that expectations are low. Kampf being bumped from the Leafs lineup late in the season and throughout most of the playoffs has the writing legibly on the wall that Craig Berube isn’t as interested in using Kampf as much as Keefe was. Not every coach has the same comfort food and with one of the final selling points on Kampf was his success on the penalty kill with Marner and Mitch no longer being around, there’s not much of a case for using Kampf over the other bottom six forwards available.

Assuming the ultimate goal and reasonable expectation is that the Leafs move on from Kampf, it is still worth the exercise of considering what if he’s still a Leaf in 2025-26 and setting goals and expectations for his play.

The Goal: Stay in the lineup and remain a penalty killing specialist

This seems simple enough and could just come down to being healthy. If Kampf is in the lineup it seems like a sure bet that he’ll be killing penalties and although it’s likely that Laughton and Roy will be given larger roles, Kampf will have a place next to someone on the second unit.

As for what a successful fit for Kampf in the lineup looks like, it could be that with the Czechia-born forward available the Leafs might want to try Scott Laughton on the wing next to Tavares. Or Kampf could find himself on Laughton’s wing helping create a much tougher defensively fourth line.

What seems like it is most necessary is that Kampf either bets out Robertson, Jarnkrok, or McMann, stays healthier than at least two other Leafs forwards at any given time, and Brad Treliving pulls off a more significant trade than just moving on from some of his depth.

The Expectation: Kampf is a low risk bottom of the lineup option

David Kampf can be the forward version of Martin Marincin. He can come into the lineup and provide low risk, low event hockey at zero risk of attempting something flashy. He can be a predictable but unexciting option for Craig Berube to call on and that honestly seems more appealing to NHL coaches than taking a chance on a rookie or AHLer who wants to prove something.

There is a benefit in keeping some centre depth around and if the Leafs aren’t eager to see Max Domi up the middle again, Kampf could be the ideal 13th forward.

What does seem like an expectation for the Leafs is that Kampf rediscovers his 26–27-point season form and have some ability to provide secondary offence. That’s a hard thing to do when most of your shifts are with Ryan Reaves and maybe Kampf gets better by that subtraction.

There’s probably still a preference towards just moving on from the 30 year old and his contract and the most likely scenario remains that Kampf is either traded or demoted. (Note: this has been said many times before.)

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Source: https://theleafsnation.com/news/what-does-successful-2025-26-season-look-david-kampf