Matias Maccelli was not tendered a qualifying offer from Toronto and will be a free agent on July 1 but he was never a fit in the lineup despite wanting to stay.
John Chayka is leading the Maple Leafs through a series of big changes that includes bringing in a new head coach, trading his longtime goaltender and acquiring a new power-play force to help them finally get an offensive spark from the backend.
But the team also has several moves ahead of them, which include making sure they sign a few of their young players and giving them a qualifying offer in order to give them some insurance should the players leave town.
Toronto tenders several qualifying offers but elect to let Matias Maccelli walk
On Tuesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs tendered several qualifying offers to players including Nick Robertson and Jacob Quillan, but they didn't end up doing so for Matias Maccelli which is going to spell the end for the forward after only a year in Toronto:
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Maccelli appeared in 71 games for the Maple Leafs and put together a decent offensive season with 39 points including 14 goals. He really turned it up in the latter half of the season, but he never really had a fit with the Maple Leafs all season.
He bounced between all facets of the lineup but never found a true calling, and the fact that he came in with such high expectations both from himself and the person who brought him in (Shane Doan) it was a pretty big failure all things considered.
He earned $3.425-million on his previous deal, and it's unknown if a team is willing to pay him that much or if he is going to have to earn his way into a bigger deal by signing a lesser one first and proving his worth.
Matias Maccelli's fit was always awkward and it was another Brad Treliving mistake
He was brought in as a cheap and lower-tier replacement for Mitch Marner's playmaking but Maccelli never reached the heights he hit in Utah back from 2022-2024 where he had 106 points in 146 games including 78 assists and 25 power-play points.
But it was never really a fit with Craig Berube's north-south game and his inability to really be a physical presence when he wasn't given offensive chances hurt him in the long run. Toronto wants to get meaner and nastier throughout the lineup and Maccelli while a creative player, is a more reserved person.
Despite that, he wanted to stay in the city:
I want to stay in Toronto. I love the city and love the guys and everything about it. So, I would love to stay, I mean, it's like the biggest hockey city there is in the world, and the most recognizable team, and the fans and the city and everything about it - it's just great.
Chalk it up to another swing and a miss by Brad Treliving, as he took a chance on Maccelli for a mid-tier draft pick on the behest of Shane Doan, and then never really got him in a place or gave him the coach to put him in the best possible position.
Another team will get a chance to gamble on Maccelli and there's a chance he turns it around and last season was a blip on the radar. But for the Maple Leafs, it's one less contract to worry about and all signs point to the team going in a much different direction this summer.
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