Toronto Maple Leafs Must Rethink Their Trade Strategy to Address Critical Long-Term Issue
The scoring woes for the Toronto Maple Leafs run deep, and their inability to replace some serious key players might lead them to change their gameplan.
Coming off a 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, and only managing to have some great production from their top line in the past few games, the Toronto Maple Leafs' scoring issues are starting to be a big concern.
Only the Core 4 (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares) along with Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann have been any type of offensive stars for the team, and their lack of scoring from key pieces like Max Domi, Max Pacioretty, and Nick Robertson is a worrying sign.
The team hasn't had the type of impact second or third line scorer and while Knies and McMann have been great, they still have growing to do and are still relatively early into their NHL careers.
So with Brad Treliving wanting to make a deal for a third-line center with defense, should he readjust his thinking to give Toronto the firepower they truly need?
Toronto's Inability To Replace Top Scorers A Serious Issue
The team hasn't had a true scoring threat like they had last season, and come playoff time that is going to be a rough bit of business.
With Toronto losing out on Tyler Bertuzzi, Michael Bunting and Zach Hyman over the recent seasons, they have lost out on not only scoring depth but some serious offensive firepower.
This season alone the trio have combined for 41 goals. Toronto's lineup minus those six players mentioned previously have a combined 25.
A staggering 12 players have suited up for the Leafs throughout the season in various second, third, and fourth line roles however none of them have done anything of note.
Nick Robertson leads the pack with seven, and that's only benefitted from the last two weeks.
Otherwise, he's been non-existent. Max Domi can't hit the broadside of a barn, and Toronto's callups minus Fraser Minten have done nothing (Nikita Grebenkin, Alex Steeves and Alexander Nylander).
Toronto lacks a true killer instinct when it comes to scoring goals and often pass up the opportunity to shoot for another pass which kills any chances.
Guys like Hyman and Bertuzzi would grind and fight for each shot; these guys are scorers so maybe they should shoot the puck.
Brad Treliving is noble in his cause to add a defensively sound third line center to his roster, but he's missing the bigger picture, and his niche criteria needs to be expanded if Toronto is going to have any amount of success this season.
As good as your defense can be, if you don't have the ability to score, giving up one goal can be the difference between a win and a loss, and it's something this year's team cannot afford.
