Martin Biron isn’t backing off his Toronto Maple Leafs take.
More than a month after free agency, the TSN analyst and former NHL goaltender still has the Leafs among his top five teams of the offseason, and he made it clear on TSN’s OverDrive that he hasn’t changed his mind. Guest host Jim Tatti pressed him on Toronto’s summer work, and Biron walked through the big pieces one by one: Gavin McKenna, Auston Matthews, Sergei Bobrovsky and a defense group that has drawn its share of criticism.
The first name he circled was McKenna, and Biron sees a fit with Matthews that could matter right away. He wondered whether the first overall pick can help Matthews get back to the kind of scoring pace that once pushed him past 60 goals.
"So, is Gavin McKenna going to have that influence? I think it's going to be a good match," said Biron.
Biron doesn’t expect the rookie to explode for 80 points in his first season, but he did lay out a line that would still make a real impact: 15 goals and 45 assists for 60 points. And if 30 of those assists feed Matthews, Biron believes the former Rocket Richard winner could get back to 50 goals or more.
From there, Biron turned to the crease, where he sees Sergei Bobrovsky as a major stabilizer. He acknowledged that Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll were effective when healthy, but availability is part of the job, and he said that was a problem.
On Bobrovsky, Biron pointed to the kind of resume Toronto has been missing. "You have to go get a guy that, you know, number one, loves to play and plays often, and is a workhorse, and (has) been there, done that.
I think the addition of Sergei Bobrovsky could be the difference-maker for me," he said.
Biron went as far as saying Bobrovsky could help Toronto land in the top two or three in the Atlantic Division. Still, when co-host Frankie Corrado asked which player mattered more for the Maple Leafs in 2026-27, Biron chose Matthews.
He said Bobrovsky may no longer be an elite-stat machine, but he can still come up with the big save at the right time. Even so, Biron sees Matthews as the engine.
If the star forward is playing at a Rocket Richard, Hart Trophy-level, Biron believes that will drive more wins than even Vezina-level goaltending.
The last major piece for Biron was the defense, and his answer came down to Chris Tanev’s health. "It's good enough to me if (Chris) Tanev can stay healthy," he replied. He also praised Emil Andrae as "a good, young defenseman that has a lot of upside."
Biron said the mix of Darren Raddysh, Jake McCabe and Tanev should take some of the burden off Morgan Rielly, who won’t need to be the "top dog" anymore. On the blue line, Biron summed it up simply: "I like what they've got."
For Biron, the Leafs’ upside still comes back to the same formula: star power, a steadier goalie situation and enough health on defense to keep the whole thing together. The optimism is there, but the path to a real resurgence runs through Matthews, McKenna, Bobrovsky and Tanev staying on the ice.
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For the Leafs, the bigger question is no longer whether help would be useful, but how much future value they are willing to spend to get it now. Toronto has to balance the temptation to add immediate offense against the longer-term benefit of keeping draft capital intact, and a deal like this makes that tradeoff a lot harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Face A Toronto Problem That Can Hurt Team Chemistry
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That matters because chemistry is rarely built only in the locker room. When players are spread across a sprawling city and fighting the daily commute, those extra chances to bond can disappear fast, which is why the Maple Leafs may need to be more intentional about creating team time during the season. Organized group activities would not solve every issue, but in a market this demanding, anything that helps the group feel connected could carry real value once the games tighten up. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs May Regret Passing On A Low-Cost Scoring Fix
With training camp approaching, the Maple Leafs are still trying to sort out a roster that can provide enough depth scoring without pushing the salary cap into a corner. That has made the margins in free agency feel even thinner, especially for a team looking for inexpensive ways to add offense without sacrificing flexibility later on.
One name that passed by Toronto was Eeli Tolvanen, who settled on a one-year deal with the Rangers. He is the kind of low-cost swing the Leafs could use more often, and the same goes for veterans such as Gustav Nyquist and Jonathan Drouin, both of whom fit the profile of players willing to take show-me deals. For a club searching for answers beyond its top scorers, those shorter-term bets might be the kind of move that looks obvious only after the fact. [Read more 🡒]