Maple Leafs Unveil Official Power Play Units to Begin 2024-25 Season
The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to have finalized their two power play units to kick off the 2024-25 season, unveiling both units at Wednesday's practice.
After a disastrous performance during the 2023-24 playoffs, it was clear from the get-go that the Maple Leafs were going to make some changes on the power play ahead of 2024-25.
The team went out and nabbed Oliver Ekman-Larsson from the Florida Panthers in free agency, addressing a clear need on a blueline that lacked any real offensive punch outside of Morgan Rielly. From the earliest days of OEL's arrival, one of the main talking points was about whether or not Ekman-Larsson would usurp Rielly and take over the reins on PP1. As of this moment, that does not appear to be the case, as the Leafs have Rielly penciled as the PP1 defenseman ahead of the final 2 games of the pre-season, just a week out from their season opener against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Leafs appear to be betting that new assistant coach Marc Savard can be a difference maker behind the bench for the team's struggling power play, finding success where Guy Boucher had failed. I've come to this conclusion based on the fact that PP1 is entirely unchanged, featuring Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Morgan Rielly, William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Meanwhile, OEL is quarterbacking a second unit that features Max Domi, Matthew Knies, Max Pacioretty and Nick Robertson.
Robertson has really shown tremendous growth this fall, having found the back of the net 3 times in his last two outings. He's the clear shooting threat on that second unit, though Pacioretty can also bury the biscuit as the likely secondary trigger-man on that unit. Ekman-Larsson having a rocket of a shot from the blueline will also help immensely.
Obviously, there are still a couple of games to work with and some late pre-season tinkering is possible, but when you delve into the depth chart and take a really good look at the Leafs' roster, these appear to be the two optimal groups, even on paper, so I wouldn't imagine these two units will look any different on opening night, barring a trade. If one change were to occur, it would likely be adding Calle Jarnkrok to PP2, as he has shown tremendous shooting ability in the past.
The Maple Leafs will open their season on the road against the Montreal Canadiens on October 9th, followed by a meeting with the New Jersey Devils in the second half of a back-to-back on October 10th. The home opener is set to occur against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on October 12th.
