This summer has a real Brian Burke feel to it in Toronto, minus the bluster but very much with the unfulfilled promises attached.
Morgan Rielly was supposed to move on. Toronto was supposed to take a real run at a Zach Werenski caliber trade target. Winning the Gavin McKenna lottery was supposed to mean fighting for real contention again, not just a playoff spot.
A lot has actually happened this offseason. The big swing everyone was promised just hasn't landed yet.
That's not really about complacency. Toronto is limited by what's actually available on the market, and with camp roughly a month away, it's fair to be left wanting more regardless of the explanation.
A few smaller storylines are worth tracking heading into September.
Andy O'Brien has said all the right things publicly about this organization, and his reputation walking in gives real reason for optimism as Toronto's top free agent addition off the ice.
Patrick O'Sullivan survived the front office purge entirely and actually walked away with a promotion, likely a reflection of his internal reputation and standing with players, even if his brief stint as a media personality raised a few red flags along the way.
College free agency could round out the Marlies roster
Fans don't need to love every hire, and being unsure what to make of them is fair. Even skeptics of GM John Chayka should recognize that surrounding himself with his own people gives him a real chance to succeed on his own terms.
Given how many holdovers from the Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan era have been cleared out, it's likely former GM Brad Treliving never actually got that same opportunity. That's not an excuse for how things played out under him, but his hands were genuinely tied.
There won't be any similar excuse available to Chayka if the culture still isn't right.
One smaller thought worth raising, would Ryan Hardy have survived the hockey ops purge if the Marlies hadn't won the Calder Cup?
Everyone else around him was shown the door, and Hardy's success on the ice seems to be exactly what kept him off that list.
August 15th also marked college free agent day, when unsigned NCAA graduates hit the open market. Joe Miller is now a free agent with real Chicago Steel ties to Hardy, and Cincinnati's ECHL affiliate could be a landing spot if nothing bigger comes together, even after graduating from Harvard.
This is also a real opportunity to round out the Marlies roster. Noah Ellis, a 6-foot-3 right shot defenseman, is worth a look, though he'd need an actual NHL contract to join Toronto given his existing minor league deal, making that path unlikely.
Sutter Muzzatti, a 6-foot-6 winger who plays a genuinely physical game, fills a real organizational need even if he isn't a priority target.
Cruz Lucius might be the real catch of this year's class. He posted 46 points in just 36 games at Arizona State, consistently running close to a point-per-game pace all season.
Every name in this group represents a development project rather than a finished product. Toronto has actually done reasonably well developing these kinds of college free agents recently, and with the prospect pipeline still relatively thin, these additions are worth genuine attention even without the fanfare of a bigger trade.
Should the Maple Leafs still make a bigger trade before training camp opens?
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