Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday revealed why the team removed the letter "O" from their social media accounts and Scotiabank Arena signage.

The change was a marketing campaign for the announcement of Oreo cookies as the Leafs' helmet sponsor for the 2024-25 season.

The sponsorship will take the form of a white "Oreo" logo across the top of the blue helmet.

Oreo is the third helmet sponsor the Leafs have partnered with since the NHL approved helmet ads in 2021. Toronto helmets began displaying the TikTok logo during the 2021-22 season before advertising the Canadian pizza chain Pizza Pizza in 2023-24.

Players are set to debut the new helmets on Sunday during a preseason home game against the Ottawa Senators.

The Oreo logo is set to pair with the "Milk" jersey patches the Maple Leafs have worn since the 2022-23 season as part of a multi-year agreement with the Dairy Farmers of Ontario.

After finishing the 2023-24 season with 100 points and a ticket to the playoffs for the third time in as many years, the Leafs will now look to bring their new helmets along on the team's first deep postseason run of the Auston Matthews era.

Toronto isn't the only team that will be debuting new uniform ads for the 2024-25 season.

The Washington Capitals recently announced players will don the TikTok logo as a jersey patch, while the Los Angeles Kings will wear a patch advertising IT solutions company Iron Bow Technologies on the team's away jerseys.

Several other teams have established new partnerships with sportsbooks prior to the season. The Chicago Blackhawks are introducing their first home jersey patch sponsor through a partnership with the Vegas-based sportsbook Circa Sports, while the Edmonton Oilers will display the logo of the sportsbook Play Alberta on their jerseys and advertise Alberta's responsible gaming program GameSense on their helmets.

Fans are likely to continue seeing more helmet and jersey sponsor partnerships in the future. Team sponsorship revenue in the NHL rose to $1.4 billion in 2023-24, a 10 percent increase over the season prior, per SponsorUnited and Sportico.

Auston Matthews has been named the 26th captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He is the first American-born player to captain the 107-year-old franchise.

Matthews will replace John Tavares, who took over the role in October 2019. The position had previously been vacant for more than three years.

In the eight seasons since the Leafs selected him with the No. 1 pick of the 2016 draft, Matthews has established himself as arguably the top even-strength goal scorer in the league. He won his third Rocket Richard Trophy by racking up a career-high 69 goals last season.

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Matthews, who was born in California and grew up in Arizona, said during the press conference announcing his captaincy that he hoped to finish out his NHL career in Toronto.

"I think that's the goal, is to be a Leaf for life, to win here with my teammates for this city," Matthews said. "I think those are always things that you kind of keep in the back of your mind, but they're also things that are kind of in the future as well.

"I've loved every minute of being a Toronto Maple Leaf. Like I said, it's such a tremendous honor, and you kind of take it one day at a time, but I hope that's the case."

Matthews, who turns 27 in September, is currently under team control through the 2027-28 season. Keeping him in Toronto will be key to the Leafs' hopes of building a Stanley Cup contender.

Tavares' future with the Leafs is less clear. The veteran center is currently set to become an unrestricted free agent at age 34 in 2025.

The captaincy change marks the potential end of Tavares' career as an NHL captain, which spanned a full decade between his tenure with the Leafs and his five seasons captaining the New York Islanders.

The Athletic's Chris Johnston reported prior to the Leafs' announcement that Tavares was "involved" in discussions regarding the captaincy change and that he "is believed to have supported the handoff to Matthews."

Tavares' children even attended the press conference dressed in Matthews jerseys, per Lindsay Dunn of CityNews Toronto.

Matthews will enter the 2024-25 season as the fifth-youngest captain in the NHL behind only the Ottawa Senators' Brady Tkachuk, Vancouver Canucks' Quinn Hughes, Montreal Canadiens' Nick Suzuki and New Jersey Devils' Nico Hischier.

He is set to face enormous pressure in his first campaign as the team's official leader as the Leafs look to make it past the second round for the first time since drafting Matthews in 2016.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will reportedly have a new captain during the 2024-25 season.

Darren Dreger and Chris Johnston of TSN reported Monday that the Eastern Conference team is expected to name center Auston Matthews as its next captain on Wednesday. John Tavares has been the captain, but Toronto apparently decided to go a different direction for the upcoming campaign.

"This is part of the evolution of Matthews as a leader and current Maple Leafs captain John Tavares fully supports the change," Dreger wrote. "Tavares has been heavily involved in the process with GM Brad Treliving."

Johnston noted Toronto has also held "extensive internal discussions" following last season's playoff exit, and the captain change has been part of them.

It's hard to argue with the notion that Matthews is the face of the franchise at this point.

The 26-year-old's resume includes a Calder Memorial Trophy (Rookie of the Year), three Maurice Richard Trophies (top goal scorer), the 2021-22 Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's MVP and five All-Star selections.

He is coming off an incredible season that saw him lead the league in goals (69) on the way to 107 points and a plus-minus total of plus-31.

That Tavares, 33, was reportedly involved in the decision to make Matthews the captain suggests this is more about the team believing it is time for the younger player to assume more responsibility and go from one of the best playmakers in the league to the leader of the franchise than any disappointment with Tavares himself.

The Maple Leafs are also looking for most postseason success and surely hope this move can help inspire some.

They have been to the postseason in eight consecutive campaigns but failed to make it past the second round every time. In fact, they advanced past the first time just once in that span, and that came in 2023 when they defeated Tampa Bay Lightning and then lost to the Florida Panthers.

It will be up to Matthews to lead a deeper playoff run from his captain position.

Being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan has been anything but easy in 2024.

The team lost in the first round of the NHL Playoffs (again), saw head coach Sheldon Keefe dismissed, and entered the postseason with more questions than answers.

It has not gotten any better since.

The potential trade of alternate captain Mitch Marner looms overhead, with the Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan reporting that expectations were that any movement that happened with a potential deal would take place in the weeks after the NHL Draft.

"We're heading into that territory on the calendar now, but there has been nothing to lead anyone to believe that a Marner trade actually will happen," he wrote.

He continued, "The line from Marner's camp all along is that the star winger will be in camp in September with the Leafs as he heads into the final year of his contract. As we say, there has been nothing concrete to expect anything otherwise."

The last thing the Maple Leafs need is the distraction of Marner trade.

The 27-year-old is one of the core players for Toronto, an 85-point right winger who passes as well as anyone on the team. He is also on an expiring contract that will allow him to walk away for nothing in return in July 2025 if an extension or trade is not reached.

The Marner situation is just one dark cloud threatening to rain on the Leafs' offseason.

The team has whiffed on adding new pieces through free agency, with Jeff Skinner opting not to sign with the club and play on a front line that includes Marner and 69 goal-scorer Auston Matthews. Add to that the failures to sign Brady Sjkei, Matt Roy, and Brett Pesce and you have the optics of a historic franchise that players do not feel obliged to sign with.

And if the failure to improve the roster is not enough, the potential for drama in the locker room should be as Koshan also reported the Leafs are weighing the decision to remove the captaincy from respected veteran John Tavares and give it to franchise star Matthews.

Tavares, like Marner, is a free agent after the upcoming season

Such a move would be embarrassing for a beloved, respected veteran like Tavares, who grew up a rabid fan of the team, even if Matthews is the guy in Toronto.

It is an unnecessary distraction and the fact that it is even being discussed suggests priorities within the organization, which should be focused on winning the club's first Stanley Cup since 1967, are not where they should be.

Perhaps that self-inflicted drama is why free agents have opted to stay away. Maybe it is the constant pressure to do what generations of Leafs have not in nearly six decades.

Whatever the case, the Leafs are in danger of watching a championship window, in which they have three of the best young players in the game performing at high levels and accented by the great Tavares, close.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been quieter than most in free agency thus far, making news for deals that did not get done as opposed to those that did.

Chris Johnston of the appropriately named The Chris Johnston Show reported that Jeff Skinner turned down signing with the team, despite news that "the Leafs specifically pitched the idea of playing on a line with Auston Matthews and [Mitch] Marner."

It was not that long ago, the Leafs were a destination team. They were a team that attracted free agents in the pursuit of winning the club its first Stanley Cup since 1967.

Add to it the history and prestige of playing with the organization the fact that Matthews and Marner were two of the best players in professional hockey and you had even more reason for free agents and trade candidates to seek out Toronto as a potential landing place.

That Skinner turned down the opportunity to go to the team and specifically play with Matthews and Marner suggests a change in the NHL universe.

Matthews and Marner are still excellent, with the former setting a team record for goals in a season and both leading their team to the playoffs again.

It is what happens in the playoffs, though, that may very well be adversely affecting players' desire to play there.

The team has been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs six of the last eight seasons, including 2023-24. They have not made the conference finals since 1999. For all of the prestige and honor that comes with playing for the Maple Leafs, an organization that is to hockey what the New York Yankees are to baseball, its inability to get over the hump and win a championship is astonishing.

That the teams, including some excellent ones that have employed high-powered offenses, have failed to show up and play championship hockey, is also surprising.

Worst of all, the fact that ownership and the front office have yet to figure it out, despite having two of the best players in the game in Matthews and Hall of Famer Mats Sundin during that span, is an indictment of their ability to construct a championship squad.

Against that particular backdrop, it is not surprising that a veteran such as Skinner might be hesitant to leave Buffalo, just over the US-Canada border from Toronto, would want to join the Leafs.

He ultimately signed with Edmonton on a one-year, $3 million deal.

That team has the best player in the world in Connor McDavid and had managed to build a team around him that is constructed specifically to excel in high-pressure situations and big-time playoff games, of which there were plenty this past season.

That Toronto is Skinner's hometown team and that he had never played in a single playoff game, but still passed on the opportunity to suit up for the Leafs only highlights that the team is no longer the championship destination it was previously for players looking to make money in the pursuit of making history.

Will the Leafs still be good next year, with Matthews leading the way as one of the league's premier scorers?

Yes, but he will have to do it knowing the Leafs failed to secure one of the best wingers in free agency because he believed he had a better chance to win elsewhere than in a city that eats and breaths the sport of hockey.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans are all too familiar with the Boston Bruins' Jake DeBrusk.

The left winger has been a Leafs killer for years, tallying six goals and five assists in his 17 career games against Toronto. Four of those assists came in the last three games against Boston's Eastern Conference rival.

As the Maple Leafs look to the offseason and potential free agent additions, though, the team may very well take the "better the devil you know than the devil you don't" approach.

The Toronto Star's Nick Kyperos reported the Leafs are interested in possibly acquiring DeBrusk this offseason.

Of course, that depends on whether Boston signs DeBrusk before the start of free agency on July 1.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery made it clear in an appearance on the NHL Wraparound Podcast that he wants DeBrusk back. He was complimentary of DeBrusk and the openness with which he has approached their conversations.

"One thing you notice, that I really noticed is that every time I talked to him one-on-one, he was very honest about where he thought his play was. We talked a lot about consistency when Jake was on top of his game. Jake was a game breaker for us. He's someone that could change the momentum of a game in one or two shifts because of his tenacity, speed, and skill," (h/t The Hockey News for the transcription).

If DeBrusk is not re-signed, he hits the market and will likely find plenty of suitors, few with the understanding of what he is capable of more than the Leafs.

More importantly, the Leafs are in need of depth at key positions, including left wing. Tyler Bertuzzi showed flashes in his first season with the team but behind him are Kyle Clifford, Nicholas Robertson, and Matthew Knies, none of which are the player that DeBrusk is.

The Bruin put up 40 points with a +/- of four in 16:49 of ice time per game.

His consistency has long been a question but when he has the puck, he has the potential to put it in the net. He is creative offensively and can provide scoring support behind Auston Matthews, William Nylander and the rest of the Leafs core.

The Leafs have other holes that need addressed, including goalie and on the defensive side of the puck.

Adding the quality depth alongside and behind the stars that DeBrusk brings is the sort of move that will, in theory, help the much-maligned organization finally get over the playoff hump and into a Stanley Cup final.

Mitch Marner has one year left on his deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs and has yet to come to an agreement on a contract extension with the club, sparking rumors that he may be traded this offseason.

Not so fast, says TSN insider Chris Johnston.

In the latest edition of The Chris Johnston Show podcast, he denounced the idea that the Leafs are 100-percent committed to dealing the star right winger (31:30).

"The Leafs are not leaning on Mitch Marner right now. They have not decided 100 percent they have to trade him and or that they're going to make life uncomfortable and they're getting the list of names. None of that's what's going on," he said (h/t The Hockey Writers for the transcription).

According to TSN's Darren Dreger, Leafs general manager Brad Treliving would rather sign Marner than trade him.

In 69 games played in the 2023-24 season, Marner scored 26 goals and delivered 59 assists for 85 points. He has scored 194 times and tallied 445 assists for 639 points. He dishes the puck expertly and has been essential to a Leafs offense that scored the second-most goals per game this season with 3.63.

He is a legitimate star in the league and a leader in the Toronto locker room.

His contributions are many and Treviling understands that, telling Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that, "Mitch controls a lot of this whole thing. If there's a way to make our team better, we're going to do it. But we're certainly not going to make a trade just so we can pound our chest and say, 'Look, we're different.'"

It is difficult to imagine a scenario where the Leafs trade Marner and get better. He is too important to what the team does well. Trading him and hoping to get enough pieces back to improve the defense or fill the enormous hole he would leave is foolish.

The team's pursuit of its first Stanley Cup since 1967 involved Marner and his ability to fuel the offense with his superb passing and setup play. Without him, the Leafs are a team with one of the best pure scorers in the game in Auston Matthews, but lacking a fellow star to get him the puck.

Keeping him, working out a contract extension that is fair to both the team and player and building around the one-two punch they provide is the best path to the championship that has eluded the organization for nearly six decades.

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Friday that they have hired Craig Berube as their next coach.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff first reported the hire.

Berube will replace Sheldon Keefe, who was fired earlier this month following a first-round playoff exit to the Boston Bruins in seven games.

Berube most recently coached the St. Louis Blues for six seasons, having spent two years with the Philadelphia Flyers before that.

St. Louis lifted the Stanley Cup in 2018-19, Berube's first season at the helm. The Blues lost in the first round in the 2020 and 2021 playoffs, though, and only advanced to the second round in 2021-22. The team missed the postseason altogether the following campaign, and Berube was fired in December after a 13-14-1 start.

The Blues went 30-19-5 under his successor, Drew Bannister, but it wasn't enough to salvage their playoff hopes.

During TNT Sports' coverage of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Paul Bissonnette seemed to know something no one else did when he jokingly threatened to break the news that Berube would be installed in Toronto.

Plenty of fans will see Berube as a great fit for a franchise that has consistently failed to play up to its potential on the biggest stage. The Maple Leafs registered 100-plus points in each of the last three years and only once during that stretch did they advance out of the first round.

The bulk of Toronto's roster is signed through at least 2024-25, with Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi the most notable free agents. Especially with captain John Tavares and Mitch Marner due to hit the open market next summer, there may be an added level of urgency to win.

Berube has already shown he can guide a team to the promised land, and perhaps more importantly than that, he has demonstrated his occasionally direct approach with players can yield results. That might be a key distinction given the fact Keefe tried challenging the Leafs players at times, too, to no avail.