Don’t look now but the Maple Leafs are just one point out of a bottom five spot.
Suffice it is to say, Leafs fans are Kraken fans right now. Fun stuff seeing Seattle come from behind to edge Mitch Marner’s Golden Knight 4-3 in a shootout on Thursday night.
At any rate, that’s where the conversation started on the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take. With three games left, the Leafs find themselves one point out of a bottom five position. That said, regardless of what transpires over the final three outings, there will be plenty of stress leading up to May 5th’s draft lottery. Big night. Enough said.
All in all, it’s next to impossible to analyze players this time of year. This team stinks. That said, there’s no question that both Artur Akhtyamov and Luke Haymes put forth very solid outings, especially the Russian netminder, who was under siege for most of the night. Despite the circumstances, Akhtyamov didn’t look out of place in his first NHL start making 39 stops. Luke Haymes, who logged 12:47 of ice, picked up an assist in his NHL debut. The Leafs were outshot 44-16. Yeah, that’s all you need to know. Pretty good opponent for Pete DeBoer to start against.
Former NHL head coach and GM Doug MacLean then stopped by for a candid breakdown of the Maple Leafs’ current direction, with a heavy focus on their ongoing front office search. MacLean stressed the importance of hiring an experienced GM, warning against going the inexperienced route and even suggesting Toronto may need to ask other teams for permission to speak with top executives. He also pushed back on the overuse of analytics, called for a clearer front office structure with both a president and GM, questioned Craig Berube’s future, and highlighted the urgent need to fix the Leafs’ backend.
And so, the Leafs have three games left —including a “big” one against Florida at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night. Both teams sit tied with 78 points, with Seattle just a point back in the mix for the fifth-worst record in the NHL. The Kraken also hold a game in hand on both clubs. This should be interesting.
That will do it for another week of Leafs Morning Take. Lots coming your way on Monday: Bruce Boudreau will fill in for Jay Rosehill as co-host. We’ll recap Leafs/Panthers, plus look ahead to Toronto/Dallas, the penultimate game of the 2025-26 regular season.