The Maple Leafs may be doing the simplest thing possible with Jack Roslovic: giving him a real look beside Auston Matthews. And that alone makes this worth watching.
Roslovic has already spent time with six teams before turning 30, so nobody can claim the league hasn’t had chances to sort him out. The familiar knock is that he isn’t a top-six forward because the production doesn’t hold up. That was the point raised in a post by Maple Leafs Hot Stove today, and it’s the kind of label that tends to stick when a player keeps bouncing around.
But labels can get ahead of the evidence.
Toronto’s current line setup at least has some logic to it. Matthews and Roslovic have skated together before.
Knies already knows what it means to play with Matthews. Tavares and Nylander have built chemistry over the years.
And McKenna gets a skilled partner without being dropped straight into the top line.
That makes sense on paper. The question is whether it’s too cautious to assume Roslovic already is what everyone thinks he is.
He hasn’t taken a regular-season shift on Toronto’s top line this season, which leaves the door open for a different kind of evaluation. Roslovic has shown flashes of speed, skill and creativity, but he’s also had those stretches where he seems to fade out of the picture. His five-on-five impact hasn’t always been steady, and that’s a big part of why there’s uncertainty around him.
Still, there’s a useful comparison here in Michael Bunting.
When Bunting arrived in Toronto for his rookie season, nobody really knew what he’d turn into. He found a way to matter.
He drove the net. He worked for loose pucks.
He drew penalties. He opened space.
He made the stars around him easier to play with.
Roslovic doesn’t play that style, and nobody should expect him to suddenly become Bunting. But the broader idea is the same: a player doesn’t always need to be the driver on a line to help it function.
Maybe Roslovic can bring speed, make fast decisions, stay involved without the puck and give Matthews another layer of support. Maybe being next to Matthews is exactly the kind of environment that helps him find a level of consistency he hasn’t found elsewhere.
That’s the bet worth making.
Toronto does have a real top-six question, because talent alone doesn’t get it done in playoff hockey. Someone still has to forecheck, win board battles and recover pucks.
The skill is there. The grind has to be there too.
Maybe that eventually points to Nick Paul or Easton Cowan as more interesting options. But right now, Roslovic should get the chance.
The case against him is already well known. The only thing left to learn is whether it’s actually right.
Maybe Roslovic isn’t a top-six forward. Or maybe Toronto has finally put him in the right place to become one.
Sometimes the player isn’t different. Sometimes the situation is.
In Other News...
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A surprising bit of front-office chatter surfaced around Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment this week, with a report from Steve Simmons saying there is a plan in place to eventually replace CEO Keith Pelley with Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro. The idea, according to unnamed sources in the report, would be to shift Pelley into a media-related role while Shapiro would move into a senior post overseeing the Blue Jays, Maple Leafs and Raptors.
For Leafs fans, the significance goes beyond corporate housekeeping because any change at the top of MLSE tends to ripple through the entire organization. The report has not been officially confirmed by MLSE, which leaves plenty unresolved for now, but it is the kind of behind-the-scenes development that can shape the direction of the franchise long before it shows up on the ice. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Are Finally Paying For A Decade Of Draft Failures
For much of the past decade, the Maple Leafs have been forced to build around a very short list of homegrown difference-makers, with Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly standing out from an otherwise thin run of draft returns. The problem was never just a lack of luck. Previous management kept dipping into first-round capital for immediate help, and the result was a prospect pipeline that never really gave the organization the kind of depth a contender needs to sustain itself.
Now, under GM John Chayka, Toronto has started trying to correct the imbalance by going back to the top of the board and selecting Gavin McKenna first overall. It is the kind of reset that can look tidy on paper, but the Leafs are still waiting to learn whether this new approach can restore the organizational foundation that years of short-term thinking eroded. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Camp Cuts Are About To Get Real For Familiar Names
The preseason roster squeeze is about to tighten for the Maple Leafs, and it figures to happen around the split-squad game against the Ottawa Senators. Toronto is expected to start trimming its camp group soon after, with the organization facing a familiar late-summer task of sorting out which hopefuls can stay in the mix and which players will hit waivers as the regular season draws closer.
A tool on Puck Pedia identified 11 potential players who could be exposed to waivers, a reminder that these decisions are no small detail at this stage of camp. For the Leafs, it is the practical side of opening-night preparation, where every move carries consequences for depth, flexibility and how the roster finally comes together before the season begins. [Read more 🡒]