Do the Maple Leafs Need Something McKenna Can’t Give Them?

Here’s a question that doesn’t get asked enough around Toronto: what actually happens to this offence if Auston Matthews isn’t putting up his usual numbers? Because right now, a lot of the goal-scoring conversation leans hard on one guy staying healthy and dominant, and that’s a shaky place to build a whole season around.

Steven Ellis at Daily Faceoff dropped an interesting point recently while breaking down Toronto’s prospect pool. Even Gavin McKenna, the guy everyone’s excited about, isn’t really a pure goal-scoring winger. He’s more of a playmaker, someone who sets other guys up rather than someone who just has a nose for the net. And to be clear, that’s not a knock on him. He put up 15 goals and 51 points in just 35 games as a freshman at Penn State, so the talent’s obviously real. It’s just a different kind of talent than “guy who scores 30 goals a year.”

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The Maple Leafs Need Goal Scorers

And that distinction actually matters a lot when it comes to trade talk. Every team needs natural goal scorers, and they’re genuinely hard to find or develop. You can find or build a solid shutdown defenseman. You can turn a late pick into a useful bottom-six guy. But someone who consistently pots 25-30 goals a season? That’s rare, and it’s usually either a top-of-the-draft talent or a guy you go out and get through a trade.

Which brings up the real issue for Toronto. They haven’t picked high in the draft very often, and they’ve been pretty willing to trade away picks and prospects at the deadline to win now. That’s a regular strategy when you’re trying to compete every year, but it does come with a cost down the line — and that cost might be showing up right now in the form of “who exactly scores when Matthews doesn’t?”

When Matthews Is Matthews, the Sun Shines on Toronto

Because here’s the thing. When Matthews is healthy and rolling, Toronto’s offence looks like one of the best in the league. When he’s not, things look a lot more ordinary. That’s the kind of dependency that should worry a front office, especially heading into a season where health is never guaranteed.

This isn’t a knock on Toronto’s prospect system as a whole. McKenna could absolutely become a star, and there’s other young talent in the pipeline. But at some point, Chayka’s front office might need to go shopping for something they don’t really have much of right now. Will they need a genuine, natural goal scorer who isn’t named Auston Matthews?

Related: Did the Maple Leafs Make Their Biggest Trade Deadline Move?