Jim Hiller wasted no time in adding some new faces to the Maple Leafs power-play, as both Jack Roslovic and Darren Raddysh were added to the first unit.
As the Toronto Maple Leafs head into the 2026-27 season, they are going to have a brand new lineup sure to bring a lot more offence and excitement than the previous two seasons. There's been a big onus on improving the power-play and the team certainly did just that.
Adding Darren Raddysh to help bring a legitimate shooting threat to the man advantage, plus the addition of Daniel Alfredsson behind the bench, the once stagnant Leafs power-play could become a strength once again.
Maple Leafs man advantage gets a refresh ahead of 2026-27 season
It seems like head coach Jim Hiller isn't messing about either in trying to find success, as the first power-play unit added two newcomers to the fold; that being Raddysh as well as free agent signing Jack Roslovic:
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The two lined up with Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares on the first unit, which makes sense given that Hiller was impressed at how both Matthews and Roslovic have worked together thus far.
The second unit had Gavin McKenna, Matthew Knies, Bo Groulx, Tinus Luc Koblar, and Emil Andrae which is a much younger and inexperienced group, but it offers all five a chance to learn chemistry early on ahead of becoming teammates in the future.
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It will be interesting to see how Hiller swaps players in and out, such as McKenna in the first group but with him trying to ease the youngster in, a second-unit spot may be the perfect place for now.
Toronto needs their power-play to become dominant once again
There was a world where the Maple Leafs had some of the most fearsome power-play units in the league. In the 2021-22 season they had a blistering 27.3% success rate meanwhile in 2022-23 they had a 26% rate.
That's over 1 in 4 shots becoming goals for Toronto, and it was a huge part of why Auston Matthews hit those 60-goal plateaus. If the team wants him back to that form, they are going to need to make sure their PP is one of the best in the game.
With Raddysh also adding a genuine threat for the first time in over a decade, it's going to offer the Maple Leafs a new outlet to score, with more than enough talent to clean up any second chances.
They don't need to be perfect but they do need to be much more potent under Hiller than Craig Berube.
Saturday night is the first time Maple Leafs fans are going to get a chance to see the new power-play in action with the hope that they'll start things off hot and keep it intense throughout the entire season.
Do you think Toronto's new power-play is going to be successful?
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