Leafs superstar Auston Matthews praises new additions Nick Ritchie and Spencer Carbery

The Toronto Maple Leafs may be carrying much of the same core from last season into this one, but aside from the fact that "The Big Four" will all be back, along with 5/6 of last year's defenders, that doesn't necessarily mean this will be the same team. In fact, the face-lift in Toronto is pretty significant, even if it only applies to the complimentary pieces.

The Leafs will certainly be looking to carve out a new identity in 2021-22 after bowing out of the postseason early for a 5th-consecutive year. With Zach Hyman, Frederik Andersen, Joe Thornton, Alex Galchenyuk all moving on this offseason, the Leafs have replaced them with the likes of Nick Ritchie, Petr Mrazek, Ondrej Kase and Michael Bunting in hopes that a different supporting cast can help propel the team to a better fate this season.

While Andersen and Hyman appear to be the two toughest guys to replace on the roster, both Mrazek and Ritchie have shown well in Maple Leafs training camp. The latter has even caught the attention of elite sniper and reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner Auston Matthews.

It's a little too early to tell whether or not Ritchie will be able to fill Hyman's shoes, but by all accounts with how things are shaping up at practice, he may get the first audition on the top line with Matthews and Marner - and number 34 doesn't seem to mind that one bit.

"(The chemistry) has been good in the couple of drills we have had together," said Matthews. "He's a really big boy, but he can make plays — forehand, backhand with guys on him. He's such a big body that it's hard to take the puck away from him and he has good vision.

"He's an easy guy to play with and you know that he is going to be at the net and he's going to try to get open. We want to continue to build that chemistry, get more reps together so we get through that feeling-out process."

Another new face in Toronto that has caught Matthews' attention appears to be new assistant coach Spencer Carbery, who has been tasked with cleaning up the issues that the Leafs have been having with the man-advantage.

Carbery has already added William Nylander to the top unit in place of Mitch Marner, shifting number 16 to the bumper position, which could yield some solid returns.

"He has a lot of passion and a lot of jump to him," Matthews said of Carbery. "I like that. He's done a pretty good job of explaining (what he wants) and then we just let our skill take over with the structure that he has put in place. It was nice to get the the full group together (Monday) and run through some stuff."

An early vote of confidence from your elite talent is never a bad thing - especially when it involves working out the kinks and improving something as important as the power play.

The Leafs are in action once again on Tuesday evening as they take on the Montreal Canadiens in preseason action.

I would expect that a significant amount of cuts will happen on Wednesday as the Leafs will have just one preseason contest remaining on Saturday, October 9th, for which I'm sure they'll want to ice a roster that's pretty close to the one they will go with in next's Wednesday season opener against those same Montreal Canadiens.

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