It only took a year and some serious luck, but the Maple Leafs now have the plan to replace Mitch Marner ready to go and it starts in only a couple of months.
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost Mitch Marner in the summer of 2025 to a sign-and-trade with the Vegas Golden Knights. It set off an offseason full of changes meant to help replace his elite two-way play but the season was a dismal failure in 2025-26 and we're back to the drawing board again.
However we've seen a ton of changes from top to bottom in the organization yet the team has still struggled to find their replacement for Marner. While the replacement by committee strategy didn't work last year, this season it could be a lot different.
Toronto actually added two extremely strong offensive players in Gavin McKenna and Darren Raddysh this offseason and while McKenna isn't going to be Marner right away, he does have the potential (at least offensively).
Gavin McKenna replaces Mitch Marner's creativity on the top line
McKenna's creativity and vision on the ice is unlike anything the Maple Leafs have had in their system, and the potential for him to find Auston Matthews in even the smallest of openings should only make him deadlier this year.
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It's a fact that Matthews thrived with Marner and he was responsible for the large share of Matthews' goals over the years; without him, it's been a lot tougher - Marner had 71 assists on Matthews' 142 goals over that span so 50% on the nose.
You're adding a guy who can also score his fair share of goals, and with the Maple Leafs also employing a solid playmaker in Matthew Knies, the two can swap off passing responsibilities.
Knies is a gigantic human being on the ice and can open up space or he could use his brute strength to body past defenders off a stretch-pass from McKenna and he just had 66 points in 79 games last year including 43 assists; the two should work together great
This is the type of creativity and talent you're getting from an 18-year-old:
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He's going to make fans salivate at the potential highlight-reel scoring chances, and his improvements in both skating and defence shows that he's more than a one-trick pony. It's the first step in helping Toronto replace Marner, but not the only one.
Darren Raddysh's the new guy in town with arguably one of the most important roles
We got the creativity down, now let us get to the power-play. Marner was a key facet in why that was so successful over the years, but he also had Morgan Rielly to help him out too.
Well, with Rielly no longer factoring into the power-play (at least on the first unit) it's going to be up to Raddysh to help McKenna and Matthews get themselves figured out as well. He adds a new dynamic to the lineup and gives the team a shooter they've not had since the early 2000s.
He also had 10 power-play goals and 26 total points on the man advantage in a 70-point season. It may have been a flash in the pan, and there's a huge reward waiting for Toronto despite them paying a handsome fee for him.
Just the opportunity to have someone who has top-tier vision and a blistering shot is already a win, but the fact that McKenna can also feed off him with give and go's or one-timer chances will only make him better in the long-run. Consistency is key.
You're also adding in Matthew Knies as a 6-foot-3, 230-pound monster in front of the net and a wildly talented and deadly William Nylander also waiting to do damage. This power-play is even better than the one with Marner because the Maple Leafs actually have a threat on the blueline.
Only time will tell if it pays off, but on paper it's a huge improvement to both the blueline and the power-play.
William Nylander must reach that next level in 2026-27
Look, we probably don't give credit to Nylander as much as we should. Sure he plays by the beat of his own drum, but he's also scored the 15th most goals in the NHL since 2020-21 and is coming off his fourth-straight 30+ goal season and fifth-straight 75+ point season.
But he can be even better and now has no excuses with Craig Berube out of the fold. The two never really co-existed as well as everyone had hoped, and the tension led to Nylander being given more responsibility than he should have had.
He also missed 17 games with injuries and had a poor finish at the Olympics with Sweden, so it was rough altogether. But he's healthy now, he's motivated (his brother just won a championship before him after all) and with Jim Hiller in charge - he's got someone he can trust to let him fly.
While John Tavares is the centre on the second line, Nylander is the offensive catalyst who does both scoring and playmaking. With Tavares getting older, it's time for Nylander to take over the offensive side of things and drive the play himself.
He could want to have more one on one chances and with his breakaway talents - why not? Maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. If you have someone like Easton Cowan or even McKenna able to find a streaking Nylander, then you could see him flirt with 50 goals this year.
It all depends on him though, and right now he's got everything in his favour to not only continue his torrid offensive stretch but become perhaps the best version of him we've ever seen.
Do you think Toronto did a good job at replacing Mitch Marner?
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