The Toronto Maple Leafs have made significant additions in free agency in recent days adding Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, John Klingberg, and Ryan Reaves.
While that quartet will give the team a new look, they won’t help drive a new level of success unless they are deployed in a way that maximizes their talents. Getting good pieces is important, but the impact of imported talent is diminished if the new players don’t fit with the existing team.
Each of the four players the Maple Leafs signed in free agency have current Toronto players they seem likely to play well alongside and guys who they may not mesh with.
Below is a rundown of what they bring to Toronto, and which current Maple Leafs complement the new guys’ style of play.
Tyler Bertuzzi
Player type: Versatile offence-oriented winger/netfront presence
Pairs well with: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander
Bertuzzi is a versatile forward capable of playing a number of roles, but his clearest fit with the Maple Leafs is to step into the departed Michael Bunting’s shoes.
The winger is tenacious and loves going to the net — where he does a stellar job of deflecting pucks.
Because he does much of his scoring around the crease, Bertuzzi should be an excellent third wheel to the Marner-Matthews two-man game — making life difficult on opposing goaltenders, tipping pucks, and banging in rebounds.
While he’s happy to do some dirty work, Bertuzzi isn’t a blunt instrument. Even when he’s working down low, he’s still capable of making some nifty plays.
Bertuzzi’s game jells with perimeter-oriented players, as he’s always in the thick of the action.
That’s a description that has often been used to describe Toronto’s wingers pejoratively, but it could mean they make beautiful music with Bertuzzi.
Might not work with: John Tavares, any bottom-six line.
It’s tough to envision Bertuzzi and Tavares teaming up in a way that maximizes both of their talents because they traffic in similar areas of the ice. Both are good enough players that they’d make it work, but it seems logical to split them up within the Maple Leafs’ top-six.
Bertuzzi has played down the lineup before, but when he signed a one-year deal with Toronto, he did so with hopes that a big season would inflate his value for next offseason. He may have been offered assurances related to his role before signing — and he’s unlikely to get bumped down the lineup unless his play is awful.
Last season, Bertuzzi played more of a checking role with the Detroit Red Wings, with an even-strength offensive zone-start percentage of 41.2%. He produced 14 points in 29 games. When Boston got a hold of him, they deployed him with a even-strength offensive zone-start percentage of 63.5%. He produced 16 points in 21 games.
Toronto brought him in to play the role that he had in Boston. They’d be delighted if he produces similar results.
Max Domi
Player type: Pass-first offensive playmaker with limited defensive acumen
Pairs well with: John Tavares, William Nylander or Auston Matthews
Domi has two 20-goal seasons on his resume — including 2022-23 — but what makes him special is his ability to pass the puck.
The 28-year-old does an excellent job of putting his teammates in position to score ,whether he’s saucing an ambitious stretch pass…
… or making something happen in tight quarters:
Since Domi debuted in 2015-16, he ranks 18th among all players in primary assists per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 (0.94), right between Leon Draisaitl and Patrick Kane.
Putting the versatile forward around finishers is the best way to get the most out of him. The Maple Leafs seem to be thinking the same thing, as they’ve expressed a desire to play him on the wing as opposed to giving him the 3C job.
They may try him at centre at some point, but Domi has a chance to thrive feeding one of Toronto’s top-two centres, or Nylander — who is happy to be shot-first guy when the occasion calls for it.
Might not work with: Mitch Marner or David Kämpf
Marner isn’t exactly a hard guy to play with, but he does many of the same things Domi does at a higher level.
Each is a competent scorer and the two could author some intricate passing plays, but both players look best on a line with a pair of guy with a shoot-first mentality.
If Domi gets bumped down the lineup, it’s hard to envision a partnership with Kämpf being too fruitful. The former is as offence-oriented as they come, and the opposite is true of the latter.
Having Domi set up a centre with a career shooting percentage of 7.3% would be a waste, and a Kämpf line with Domi might not be as defensively trustworthy as it would need to be as Toronto’s top checking line.
John Klingberg
Player type: Right-shot offensive defenceman
Pairs well with: T.J. Brodie or Jake McCabe
As one of two right-shot defenceman in Toronto’s top six, Klingberg has plenty of potential partners, but these two seem like the most logical fits.
The veteran Swede is relatively small (190 pounds), and he doesn’t throw many hits or block many shots. His form of effective defence is making strong outlet passes and zone exits, but it’s wise to pair him with a sturdier partner who is reliable in their own zone.
Klingberg also likes to jump into the rush and he needs to play with someone who can cover for the risks he takes.
This goal against the Montreal Canadiens is an excellent example.
Klingberg is the furthest player back as the Anaheim Ducks gather the puck, so far in his own zone that he ends up offscreen. But he charges up the ice and finishes the play from the slot.
Meanwhile, his partner — Simon Benoit — hangs all the way back after starting the play because he knows Klingberg is going for it.
The Maple Leafs should put him with someone willing to do just that. McCabe is the most likely bet, as Brodie has played alongside Morgan Rielly for much of his Maple Leafs tenure.
Pairing Klingberg and McCabe could also be helpful for Toronto because it would likely prevent the latter from joining rushes himself, something that is rarely a profitable endeavour for him.
Might not work with: Morgan Rielly, Mark Giordano, Timothy Liljegren or Conor Timmins
Liljegren and Timmins can be thrown out because they’re also right-shot defenders. Rielly and Klingberg seems a bit too combustable, and each thrives when they can have as much of the puck as possible.
When the Maple Leafs had Tyson Barrie, they tried him with Rielly occasionally, but never seemed keen on the all-offence pairing. This is a similar situation.
Giordano is an interesting case because his stay-at-home sensibilities are a theoretical fit alongside Klingberg, but his lack of mobility is a concern. Having a player who’s about to turn 40 cover for a free-wheeling guy like Klingberg is a big ask.
The Maple Leafs’ new defenceman has also logged 20-plus minutes in all nine years of his NHL career. He’s come to Toronto to play a top-four role, and Giordano shouldn’t be asked to do that in his 18th season.
Ryan Reaves
Player type: Old-school enforcer
Pairs well with: Whoever is on the fourth line (Currently projected to be Pontus Holmberg and Sam Lafferty)
When it comes to how Reaves fits the Maple Leafs, he has plenty of personal role clarity. How he affects whatever line he’s on is interesting, though.
In recent years, the Maple Leafs have given their fourth line — led by Kämpf — an immense amount of defensive responsibility, but Kämpf looks like he’s moving up to the 3C role at this point, and it might be tough to trust a line with Reaves in its own end against top players.
At the same time, giving offensive opportunities to Reaves and players of his ilk isn’t ideal either.
Having the enforcer aboard makes it more difficult for the fourth line to serve a specific purpose — beyond throwing hits. His fit alongside Lafferty is especially odd as the former is one of the fastest players on the Maple Leafs and the same can’t be said for Reaves.
Might not work with: Any top-nine player
This is as simple as it gets. Reaves has never skated more than 10:52 per night in his 13-year NHL career. There have been occasional moments where teams have experimented with playing him further up the lineup for a game or two — purely to mix things up or send a message to underperforming players above him.
At this point in his career, even that seems unlikely. Reaves is on the Maple Leafs to give the fourth line some bite, and nothing else. That’s fair considering he’s a 36-year-old who has been playing that role his whole career.
