GM uncertainty clouds future
Lamoriello or successor must make Matthews, Marner, Nylander happy
William Nylander faces restricted free agency after a season in which he says he wasn’t as consistent as he wanted to be.
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, who say they would love to play together next season, are eligible for contract extensions this summer.
But of all the free agents and contract worries facing the Maple Leafs, the most important one could well be that of Lou Lamoriello.
The Maple Leafs general manager — in typical Lamoriello fashion — declined to address his own future Friday amid speculation he will take a senior adviser’s role while being replaced as general manager by one of his assistants, either Kyle Dubas or Mark Hunter.
“I’m not thinking about myself, or worried about myself, or expressing anything that has to do with me,” Lamoriello said after the team held its seasonending exit meetings. “Right now I’m doing what my responsibilities (are).” Those include measuring where the team is after its firstround elimination at the hands of the Boston Bruins, where it is going and how it is going to get there. Locking up the three players at the core of that future — Nylander, Matthews and Marner — ought to be a priority for whoever is the Leafs’ GM.
If it’s Lamoriello — who takes a patient, if hard-line, approach — it could be an intriguing summer. None of the free agents had any talks during the season.
“We’ll do what has to be done,” said Lamoriello. “There’s no such thing as order. You handle the situation as it creates itself. They’re all important players. It will be handled accordingly.”
As they reflected on their own seasons and their own futures, each had an idea how they’d be better and how things might be different next season.
Matthews will be working on his fitness level to perhaps cut down on injuries. Marner said he’d be working on his shot to become a more dangerous scoring threat. For Nylander, he said he has to work on playing at a peak level more consistently.
“I feel like I haven’t been able to be at the top of my game every game,” said Nylander. “More consistency is the big thing.”
Babcock agreed with Nylander’s self-analysis: “He’s a great kid who wants to be good. He wants more. I like the fact he wants more. He wants to be a better player and we want him to be a better player.”
Nylander could move to centre if Tyler Bozak bolts, meaning opening up the right wing on Matthews’ line for Marner. They’d be a dynamic scoring pair. Both want to play together.
“I would,” said Matthews. “He’s a great player. You see he makes guys around him better. We have good chemistry off the ice and on the ice. When we played together it was fun. I’d love to play with him, but I’m not the one making the lineup changes.”
The two played together rarely, and only when the team was in desperate need of offence.
“He’s got a lot of skill. He’s very fast,” said Marner. “Defensively, he’s always in the right location and picks off passes. It’s fun playing with him.” Babcock said he hasn’t thought yet about possible changes.
“I haven’t done any whiteboard work, or napkin work — I haven’t even had a beer yet, for crying out loud,” said Babcock. “So much depends on who you acquire.
“You guys want them to play together. I want to win.”
Of the three, Marner took the biggest step forward, leading the team in scoring despite finding himself on the fourth line earlier in the season.
“Mitch took his pills early this year,” said Babcock. “Those lessons happened for him early. He struggled. Once he got going, he really got going. He got better and better and was a real factor at playoff time.”
Matthews’ skating suffered from an early-season back injury, Babcock said.
“We always come back to the three guys with the most talent, because that’s what we’re enamoured with,” said Babcock. “The way they can help themselves is to become more consistent, by becoming better pros, by doing it right.”