The Toronto Maple Leaf’s 2023-24 campaign ended in archetypal Toronto fashion – With a defeat to the Boston Bruins in seven games in round one. Upon this result, head coach Sheldon Keefe was relieved of duty by the organization. The org, spearheaded by general manager Brad Treliving and president and alternate governor Brendan Shanahan, clearly identified the need to change and alter the primary voices in the room to take the next steps. What are some of the shakeups that happened and what might they do for the team? Let us examine the events of this offseason and assess just what sort of next phase Toronto is entering.

The replacement for Sheldon Keefe comes in the form of Craig Berube, who arrives with head coaching experience with the Philadelphia Flyers for two seasons before joining the St. Louis Blues organization a year after being terminated by then-Flyers GM Ron Hextall upon following up a playoff year with a sixth place finish in the Met. Initially coaching their AHL affiliate at the time in the form of the Chicago Wolves before being promoted to assistant coach with the big club and subsequently becoming the bench boss, Berube coached the Blues for five full seasons, winning a Stanley Cup in his first year in 2019 after taking the mantle from Mike Yeo (initially on an interim basis) and a division title the following year. The Blues would clinch playoff spots the next two years, though won just one playoff series and saw their season ended by division rivals the Colorado Avalanche both times. They would miss out in 2022-23 before Berube was fired 28 games into the 2023-24 campaign, taking the fall for what was arguably the fault of GM Doug Armstrong for running back a mediocrely constructed roster. Overall, Berube has a career regular season record of 281-190-72 and a playoff record of 27-28. Some may suggest this move reeks of club politics, but I think I also respect the attitude that “Chief” will bring to the club. He believes in accountability and coaches a style that emphasizes responsibility on defense while not eschewing offensive creativity (while still believing in hard work there, as well). Despite being able to appreciate this hire, I am more thrilled about his reunion with Marc Savard, who will be joining him as an assistant coach. While Savard had less success in Calgary due to Ryan Huska’s system and the limited roster talent, he and Berube presided over an excellent power play in their sole prior season together in 2019-20 (ranking third in efficiency in the regular season). That is to say nothing of what Savard did with the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL. Savard led the Spits to the Western Division crown in both of his seasons at the helm, getting to the seventh game of the J. Ross Robertson Cup in the first (where they fell to eventual Memorial Cup finalists the Hamilton Bulldogs). Savard, akin to his playing style as an absolute assists goblin before his career on ice was ended by post-concussion syndrome, is an offensive wizard as a coach, very innovative and encouraging creativity from his players and once had a gigantic playbook which he has tried since to reconstruct. It seems ridiculous to say at first glance, but we might actually see the terrific top-heavy Leafs forward group unlock yet another dimension to their games under Savard’s leadership of the power play and with his offensive philosophy influencing the team as a whole. Additionally, we saw a culture change this summer which was somehow both subtle and significant at the same time. With, from what we know, there being no axe to grind, John Tavares was supplanted as captain by Auston Matthews, with the former now being an alternate. With the amount of passion, as well as the ability to lead by example and the respect he commands by his pure ability, that the latter has, I think his energy is the right one to be leading the charge for the club going forward. I am excited to see what this shakeup does for the team on the ice and how it affects the chemistry in the room.

D Chris Tanev was acquired from Dallas for Max Ellis and a 2026 seventh rounder. I definitely respect what Tanev can still bring (as evidenced by last year’s playoff run), especially to a team that, while lacking much puck movement capabilities on the back end, also suffers from a dearth of shutdown options. That said, I additionally agree with Nate Duffett’s assessment: Six years, $27 million is a reckless deal to be giving to a 34 year old who plays an aggressive style. This is a deal that helps in the short term but may become regrettable quite fast. I am, however, a little bit higher on the Oliver Ekman-Larsson signing at four years, $14 million. Ekman-Larsson has had his injury woes but remained healthy throughout the year and did quite well en route to winning the Stanley Cup with Florida, posting his highest point total (32) in a season since 2018-19 (44) [disclaimer: the 2019-20 season and 2020-21 seasons were truncated, as was Ekman-Larsson’s 2022-23 campaign due to the aforementioned health woes] seeing reduced minutes (though while also being used on PP1, as Duffett notes). There might be some risk attaching him to their cap and roster for multiple seasons, but it should be interesting to see what he can do in a similar role to the one he played in Sunrise. The team also certainly needs his skill on the blue line, as they suffer from a lack of facilitation and breakout capabilities at that position as was noted. Most recently, RHD Jani Hakanpää was signed to a one-year deal to shore up the bottom part of the defensive core. I’m a little tempered on this one, considering injury worries regarding his knee were the cause of delay and the Finn also fits the playing profile that is the cause of stagnation for the Leafs’ blue line. The least I can say is at least there are no strings attached to this one. I do love that G Anthony Stolarz was acquired on a two-year, $5 million contract. As Duffett points out, he will be playing more time behind Joseph Woll than he did behind Sergei Bobrovsky (or ever), but the money made perfect sense for a guy who thrived as a more than reliable backup for a strong team and may be able to rise to the occasion when presented with the challenge of increased playing time. LW Nick Robertson was given a one-year extension and Treliving seems to have some belief in him, but the possibility of trade is rumored to still be on the table, so we’ll have to see how that situation unfolds.

After trading back to 31st overall, the Toronto Maple Leafs picked up D Ben Danford from the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, who were last year’s Eastern Conference champions. Danford is definitely more of a shutdown player than anything as his EliteProspects profile notes, but his skating ability is not to be slept on and he seemed to unlock another dimension to his offensive capabilities in the playoffs (to frame it statistically, he had 4 goals and 6 assists and was at his most dominant in the first three rounds before an injury-affected Generals squad came up against the stacked London Knights). This was their only pick in the top 100, and truthfully, I can respect it. I am curious to see how future drafts go for this club given the Leafs’ hiring of Mark Leach as director of amateur scouting a couple of weeks after the weekend in Vegas. His success in finding great steals such as Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, and Logan Stankoven (amongst others) with Dallas as part of the Jim Nill regime is well-documented, to say nothing of what he accomplished in Detroit. Eventually, this team will have to go through a teardown, and he will likely be able to put together a fantastic pipeline within a matter of a few years.

The Maple Leafs were somewhat disappointing with their roster moves this summer. They still lack sufficient puck movement from the back end and have some general worries with roster construction. That said, they got a couple right, and I am going to defend their personnel moves to the death. Whatever may happen on the ice the coming couple of years, the organizational culture changed for the better, and I think they will pay dividends in the long run. With that in mind, I think a B+ grade is a fair compromise for Toronto’s activities this summer. I am not convinced that they took an immediate step up, but I think the direction they are going in is better than most anyone expects at the time of writing.