In general manager Brad Treliving’s end-of-season media availability following the Toronto Maple Leafs’ second-round exit at the hands of the Florida Panthers, nobody was expecting to hear anything that would satisfy the success-hungry fanbase. And, while a quip about wanting to change the DNA of the team probably wasn’t enough to think he was going to bring a Cup to Toronto next season, it was certainly interesting enough to turn heads.
Take the facts exactly as they read and it they paint a picture of a Maple Leafs team that, formed a team strong enough to moonwalk through the regular season and make the playoffs with relative ease for nine years in a row. Why they were only able to extend that success by a single round twice in a nine-year tenure is a different story, one that people will chalk up to ill-timed breakdowns, bad officiating, and just an overwhelming wave of bad luck, year after year.
What that picture doesn’t show, however, is that all three of those things happen to every team in the NHL. Sure, the Panthers might have an edge on the second point, but the teams that make it to the second round, third round, or Cup final on a consistent basis don’t do that without battling any adversity. And yes, you can chalk bad luck up as a reason for these shortcomings, but when you’ve only won two single playoff rounds in nine years of the most skilled Maple Leafs team in franchise history, the excuse of bad luck doesn’t really hit the same.
Treliving’s comment about changing the DNA came as a precursor to an offseason with star forward Mitch Marner expected to hit the market. That’s not to say that Marner was the sole issue within the Leafs’ DNA preventing them, from having playoff success, but it’s the kind of organizational shakeup that only really happens when the team in question is looking to make substantial change. And as Treliving clarified when speaking to media ahead of the draft, changing the DNA is more of a mindset shift as opposed to bringing in a whole new roster of players. Whether it’s through the draft, free agency, or trades, you want all of your players to be on the same page.
So, with this in mind, enter the 2025 NHL Draft class.
You can draw a couple of similarities between the six players the Maple Leafs drafted this year. The fact that they’re all 6-foot-1 or taller is one of them, but you can’t make an argument for a DNA change and use feet and inches as your only source. What stuck out more to me was the comments from scouts and descriptions of these players, and how they all seemed to want to do whatever it took to win. That means knowing your role, which Director of Amateur Scouting Mark Leach said following the draft.
“Now, again, some of these kids are going to have to find their role or their niche in the game and do what they have to do,” Leach told reporters. “When you find those kids with that work ethic, that compete, they know who they are, and they what type of game they have to play, they work on those elements, they’ll find a role.”
Tyler Hopkins, selected in the third round, is a 6-foot-1, 183-pound centre whose play style is reminiscent to prospect Fraser Minten, who was traded by the Maple Leafs at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline in a package for defenceman Brandon Carlo. Hopkins grew up a Leafs fan and said he tries to model his game after Tampa Bay Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli.
“I can’t even describe the feeling,” Hopkins said after being drafted. “I’ve been a Leafs fan since I was a kid, and now that this is all kind of come true, it’s kind of that full circle moment. … There’s a lot of honor that comes with this logo, a lot of history as well. I think it’s just pure excitement that it happened.”
Growing up a Leafs fan as an Ontario kid is one thing, doing so while growing up in Norway is a whole other level of dedication. That was the story fans got from Tinus Luc Kolbar, a 6-foot-3 Norwegian centre who models his game after Anze Kopitar.
“I would say they play a huge role in my competitiveness,” Kolbar, whose mother was an Olympic biathlon athlete and his father an alpine skiier, told reporters after being drafted. “I would say that I have been born with that competitiveness, because both my mom and dad have been at a high level. Yeah, I like competing at everything, there’s nothing I like to lose on.”
Then there’s William Belle, the Maple Leafs’ 6-foot-4, 225-pound hard-hitting fifth-round pick who wants to model his game after Tom Wilson. He was asked where his love for mean, in-your-face style of hockey comes from, and made sure to clarify that it’s all for the good of the team.
“It’s not necessarily that I love doing that, it’s just that it’s what makes me effective and it’s what helps my team win,” Belle said. “The meanness aspect of it, it’s just, I’m here to win and I’m here to help my team and I don’t care who you are, I’m going to be in your face. That’s just how I’m wired, that’s just how I play.”
Harry Nansi, who was also drafted in the fifth round and stands at 6-foot-3, was one of the youngest players in the draft class. He’s got lots of room to grow, and like the other players drafted, has the intangibles and desire to do whatever it takes to win that help other aspects of his game, that need improvement, such as his skating, be a little easier to stomach during the development process.
Harry Nansi is another big body – and a guy some people viewed as a potential second or third-rounder. Decent pick for Toronto.
Never stops moving. Good energy guy. At this point, work the selection. We’ll see if his skating catches up, but I like him as a playmaker. #NHLDraft…
— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) June 28, 2025
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In the Maple Leafs’ final two picks of the draft, you have a pair of OHLers in sixth-round pick Rylan Fellinger, a 6-foot-4 right-handed defenceman for the Flint Firebirds who prioritizes stay-at-home hockey and goal prevention before anything else, and Matthew Hlacar, a 6-foot-3 power forward for the Kitchener Rangers with attitude and a tendency to drop the gloves. Both players here are long shots to make the NHL right now, but as Leach alluded to in his press conference following the draft, these players have enough going for them that make the Leafs’ front office optimistic in believing they will be worth the long development arc.
There’s a role for everybody,” Leach said. “As you saw in the playoffs: size matters, toughness matters, competitiveness matters. We hope we fill some of those roles in some of those kids.”
Let me be clear that I’m not saying the next edition of Legends Row will be made up of Tinus Luc Koblar, Tyler Hopkins, and William Belle. These players aren’t supposed to mark the beginning of a new era of DNA in the Maple Leafs’ system, nor should they be. If any of them pan out for the Leafs down the line, it will be seen as a win, but if nothing else, it’s clear that Treliving has a vision in what traits he wants players donning the Leafs crest to possess.
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