The Boston Bruins fell to fifth-last season, and look where they are now. The Toronto Maple Leafs should try to do the same so they not only help themselves but also prevent helping the Bruins.
The Toronto Maple Leafs need to fall at least four spots in the standings if they want to rise higher in the long term.
Otherwise, they're likely giving the Boston Bruins a first-round pick in the top half of this year's draft.
At last season's trade deadline, the Bruins were 23rd in the NHL standings, eight points ahead of the team in 28th place, or fifth-last. The Bruins wound up fifth-last by the end of the season. There was a de facto tank job Boston went through at the end of last season, and the organization is now better for enduring it by drafting James Hagens.
This year, the Maple Leafs sit 24th ahead of Monday's action, and they're six points ahead of the 28th-place St. Louis Blues.
If the Maple Leafs' first-round pick ends up in the top five, the pick going to Boston slides to either 2027 or 2028. Thus, there's every motivation for Toronto to plummet down the standings. The 2026 draft has some strong talent in the top tier, and that's exactly what the Leafs need to benefit their long-term future.
In other words, it's never been clearer that the Maple Leafs must now do what the Bruins did last year and retool on the fly after taking their lumps the rest of this season. They could have tried to be long-term buyers at the trade deadline, but they chose to sell, and they now need to commit to that direction for the next month-and-a-half.
At last year's trade deadline, the Bruins dealt captain Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers, veteran center Charlie Coyle to the Columbus Blue Jackets and defenseman Brandon Carlo to the Leafs. The assets Boston GM Don Sweeney received in trades for Marchand, Coyle and Carlo have helped them turn the page and start a new generation of B's hockey while still contending for a Stanley Cup playoff spot this season.
There's no reason the Leafs can't do the same.
Toronto GM Brad Treliving was not willing or able to trade away big pieces of his roster the way Sweeney did last season, but they can still embrace the Bruins' blueprint for a retool by making selective tweaks the rest of the way.
How Should The Leafs Tank And Reset For Next Season?
The first step the Leafs should take is to rest any and all veterans playing through nagging injuries.
There's no reason for those veterans to stick it out when their body isn't at 100 percent, and removing them from the roster would give the Buds opportunities to hand out to young players in the organization and see what they do with those opportunities.
If captain Auston Matthews or star right winger William Nylander are trying to play through injuries they suffered earlier in the season but have since returned from, they should be shut down immediately. Start anew at next season's training camp and be fully healed from whatever ails you right now. That should be the Leafs' mindset the rest of this season.
Similarly, there's no longer any good reason for Leafs coach Craig Berube to lean heavily on his veterans when handing out shifts. In fact, there's every reason for Berube to significantly reduce the minutes he gives to veterans, such as defensemen Morgan Rielly and Jake McCabe. They don't need to be out on the ice, eating up more than 20 minutes per game. Let the Leafs' young players in the organization have a chance to show what they can do.
Indeed, Treliving should immediately call up a bunch of Toronto Marlies and see what they've got. If that means the Leafs take a step back in the standings, so be it. Unless they win the draft lottery, they kind of need to do that right now, anyway.
The Bruins laid out a smart plan last season, targeting players they didn't see as long-term fits. Nearly one year after they flamed out in the Eastern standings, Boston once again is contending for a playoff berth for the foreseeable future. So the Maple Leafs need to learn the lesson the Bruins did, even if it's uncomfortable. And Toronto obviously needs a little bit of short-term pain for long-term gain.
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