TORONTO — Matias Maccelli sat in the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room the morning before Opening Night, his name scribbled atop the whiteboard lineup to the right of captain Auston Matthews and stud power forward Matthew Knies.
The 1RW spot formerly occupied by you-know-who.
What would the shifty playmaker have thought if someone had informed Maccelli he’d kick off 2025-26 as a top-line Leaf on the day he got traded out of Utah?
“Sounds pretty good to me, right?” Maccelli replied that crisp October morning, flashing a smile as wide as a cross-crease feed. “Obviously, it’s a great opportunity for me to play with both those guys.
“I feel like there’s pressure always. Like, doesn’t matter where you’re at. But, I mean, obviously here, you play next to Auston and Knies, you’re gonna get a little more attention. So, you gotta try to block that out and go out there and play your game.”
The magic, tragic Blue Jays did a fine job sucking early-season attention away from their hockey-playing neighbours a few blocks east.
But the case of Maccelli — one of GM Brad Treliving’s many off-season hope plays, and one who’s guilty of too many hope plays — is as good a place as any to check in with how the new Leafs are turning over through 13 games.
Prior to puck drop, the low-risk flyer who fell out of favour with the staff in Salt Lake City admitted to nerves but said he was determined to win his battles, check hard, and help summon scoring chances.
Before Leafs Nation could blink, Maccelli had slipped off the top line. In under four weeks, he was back where things ended with his former club: banished to the press box.
Treliving was never naïve enough to imagine he could replace all-situations Mitch Marner straight-up. The bet was that Toronto could limit the loss by committee, by existing players grabbing larger roles, and a trio of fresh faces up front — Maccelli, centre Nicolas Roy and power wing Dakota Joshua — chipping in with support scoring, special-teams shifts, and smart defensive play.
Through 38 man-games, the three new Maple Leafs have combined for 13 points and a minus-7. (Marner has 14 points and is a plus-8 with Vegas through 11 games, but we recognize Treliving did not choose his own adventure here.)
Perhaps we should remind ourselves that all three of Treliving’s new acquisitions’ former clubs are striding toward contention and were OK with cutting these players loose to do so.
Maccelli is averaging his lowest ice time (13:40) as a pro, Roy (13:51) his lowest in five seasons, and Joshua (12:07) his lowest in three.
All of them soak up at least $3 million on the cap sheet. None have played atrociously by any means. But also: None have overdelivered or demanded a significant usage boost based on merit, which is what Treliving was banking on here.
“The D-zone is probably the biggest part. But I think we’ve made some big improvement,” said Roy, known for his responsibility and consistency up the middle.
“I try to help the team as much as I can in different situations: face-offs (53.2 per cent), play on the PK, or try to be hard to play against on the forecheck and without the puck. I think my game is in a pretty good spot. Obviously, could be a better start to the season here. So, just gonna try to keep improving.”
Roy, like the others, has conceded an adjustment period to coach Craig Berube’s coverage plan.
“Always takes a little bit of time to know exactly where to go. Not overthink it,” Roy said. “Because you want to act fast, and you don’t want to be in your mind thinking about the system and everything.”
To be fair, change is hard.
Acclimatization and chemistry take time, and this traumatized city can be impatient.
“You know, I think it’s different for everyone. Obviously, it’s not easy, right?” defends Max Domi, who has changed NHL sweaters six times.
“You’re coming in, new coach, new system, new teammates, new linemates, new city. So, there’s a lot that goes into it. But it’s also part of being a pro in the NHL, right? So, I think what makes those transitions easier is just the guys that have already been here, and then the locker room that you have. And I think we’ve got a great group of guys that have been here for a while that make it easy on those guys. So, just got to keep chipping away. We’ll be fine.”
Maybe.
But fine should not be the benchmark for a team with nine consecutive playoff appearances and coming off a regular-season divisional crown.
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Based on Tuesday’s line rushes, Maccelli will return to Toronto’s lineup for Wednesday’s revenge match against the franchise that cut him loose. Fittingly, he’ll slot in alongside Roy and Joshua.
Call it the Prove-It Line.
Gradually improving, Joshua will be quick to tell you that he — like the entire Maple Leafs — has another level to reach.
He’ll also point out to the sluggish Octobers the Edmonton Oilers overcame in 2023 and 2024 before eventually running the table and repping their conference in the Stanley Cup Final. And Berube’s 2018-19 St. Louis Blues, who were fumbling around in last place as late as January before gelling into a hard-working, sum-is-greater-than-the-parts championship wagon come June.
So, when would be a fair time to start judging whether the new Leafs have fit in well enough?
“Probably around that American Thanksgiving mark, I don’t want to say is panic time. But it is a bigger picture, really, to go off of things,” Joshua said. “And I know everybody’s still trying to catch their footing early on, and I just think that’s the way the league goes. It’s tight every night.”
Until we see more traction, more energy from the Leafs’ role players, though, things will feel a little extra tight in Toronto.
As Maccelli put it at the outset, they’re gonna get a little more attention.
