Among the players who might get a look is defensive prospect William Villeneuve, who's yet to play a game in the NHL since being drafted in 2020.
The Toronto Maple Leafs won't admit to using every avenue to fall further down the standings, but that's what's going to happen in their final 19 games of the season.
There's nothing left for Toronto and general manager Brad Treliving to learn about the players who've been around all season. It's time to see what their players with the AHL's Toronto Marlies have.
"I would anticipate that, yeah," Treliving said on Friday about using Marlies later in the year to see what they could do.
Jacob Quillan and Easton Cowan (even though he's been a Maple Leaf for the entire year, he deserves to be in this conversation) will get more looks in unique situations in the final stretch of the season — that's already been confirmed by Berube.
Do the Maple Leafs, though, stick their hand further down the prospect pot and bring other players up?
Luke Haymes, who Toronto signed to an NHL contract out of Dartmouth College last spring, might deserve a look. He's up to 14 goals and 24 points in 52 games — plus nine goals and 10 points in his last 12 games — at the time of writing on Friday night.
Maybe with Quillan up with the Maple Leafs, they move Haymes into a larger role with the Marlies as they battle for playoff seeding in the AHL's North Division, and call up someone like Bo Groulx?
He leads the Marlies with 50 points (27 goals and 23 assists) in 53 games this season. Groulx isn't a prospect per se, but he's deserving of a look at the NHL with his play in the AHL this year.
Because Haymes won't be as far along as someone like Quillan, it might just make sense to keep him with the Marlies.
It feels like most Maple Leafs fans want to see what the organization has in William Villeneuve, and maybe now is the right time. Drafted by Toronto in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, the 23-year-old has spent all of his pro career in the AHL.
He's gotten just about every opportunity with the Marlies, whether it's playing in the dying minutes of a close game or consistently being the quarterback of the team's number-one power play unit.
Villeneuve has tallied 12 goals and 110 points over four seasons (212 AHL games) at the time of writing. And while offense has never been the problem with Villeneuve, his defensive game has been a different story.
He's struggled with defensive reads at times. He could be more physical in front of his net. He could also be making better decisions under pressure.
"I think it's the thing we've been talking about for a couple of years now," said Villeneuve in December, about how he can improve. "I think there's a lot of ups and downs, and I just want to find a way to have a game, like a stable game, where I can be relied on every single night and ride with the good (games) and not let the bad ones get too bad."
There's a reason he hasn't been called up to the Maple Leafs yet, especially earlier this season when Toronto was dealing with several injuries to its defense.
Sometimes, though, players come up to the NHL and play better than they did in the AHL. The Maple Leafs need to see if they have that with Villeneuve, or if he's better off being in the AHL with the Marlies for the remainder of the year.
And being 22 points off last place (held by the Vancouver Canucks), it's the right thing to do, not only with Villeneuve, but several other players in the AHL.