> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Saturday's FTB: Tavares is back - URL: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/saturdays-ftb-tavares-is-back/ - Published: 2026-11-07T11:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-07T11:00:01.000Z - Description: It's game 18 tonight. It's getting close to not really being all that early. - Author: Cathy Squires - Tags: From The Branches It's not very early, and all the new players have played for the new coach in at least 10 games. So how did my preseason take on these guys survive a little reality check? When I originally looked at the new additions, I started at the top of the forward list by AAV, so today, I'll redo the same order. I want real information before I come to much of a conclusion about Darren Raddysh or Sergei Bobrovsky. Even then, I'm not sure how conclusive it will get. Depth forwards are simpler. ### Colton Sissons At $4.25 AAV, Sissons was not a popular signing, and I was very dubious of his ability to play up to the level the contract implied. It should be noted that Sissons was signed long before anyone had come to grips with what the rising salary cap was doing to AAVs below the elite level. But beyond the salary, a lot of people thought he was a fourth liner. We were all wrong in one way or another about him. And I think the reason why is right here in this assessment: > He doesn't have any particular role-specific skills that are above average aside from skating speed and his faceoff ability. But for his level, that's not surprising. He doesn't have any great flaws either. I think this is true. He PKs fine, but he's not really good at it like some others. He is fast, he does do very well at faceoffs, and that makes him quite a lot like Pontus Holmberg. A player who isn't so much good as just never bad. A player of this sort has no big swings in his performance from day-to-day or from one part of the ice to another. Add to that the fact that Sissons isn't very good at offence – his early goal scoring has been pretty flukey – and you have a player that does not generate strong positive emotions in a fan. I also said I didn't think he had much to offer as a winger, and he actually looks as good on the wing with Nick Paul as centre as he does taking over the third line. He plays very well with Easton Cowan and has also been good with Gavin McKenna. He doesn't fit as well with the grinder fourth liners, but his excellent defensive impacts mean he can hold his own against stiffer competition than they can. His on-ice number (which I never look at) likely aren't very exciting because the Leafs as a team are struggling at five-on-five to have the puck as much as they should, but Sissons on the means there is a functional third line with or without John Tavares in the lineup, and that's the job done. Puckpedia has a contract depth chart feature where they list the players nominally at the same position. For 3Cs in the NHL, Sissons has the 14th-highest AAV, making him not average, but nearly at the median. He's making $750,000 more than Scott Laughton, and I think he's a much more plausible 3C than Laughton ever was. The caution and caveats on Sissons seem to have been off the mark. ### Jack Roslovic Roslovic was the one player I really was interested in after I started digging into his career. He is very unusual and was almost entirely miscast in the minds of fans before he joined the team. The expectation was that his role would be as a centre, likely on the third line. There was a kind of conflation going on between Roslovic, Paul and Sissons, but Roslovic is nothing like those two. A more realistic view of his usage trickled out to everyone when he was skating with Matthews pre-training camp. A legitimate comparison was made to Max Domi as a flawed player using his skating speed to play on Matthews' wing. This has turned out to be partly true. Roslovic brings a fast and hard shot, great skating speed, good cycle play, some quick thinking and almost zero defensive skills. He is rather obviously a winger who needs to be on a line with a good two-way centre. The book on Roslovic was all wrong. Partly due to the bad luck he's had with injuries, down shooting seasons and landing on teams that were having a bad year – not at all because of him. Imagine him on the Leafs last year and not the Oilers. I bet you we'd have liked him a lot less than you do now. This gamble by John Chayka to put an undervalued player on the top line has paid off very well, giving the Leafs a bargain on the top six that does all the things he's supposed to do. Roslovic's two-year contract just makes it all the sweeter. ### Nick Paul Most of these new signings, with one vivid exception, had bad seasons last year. Most have a reason that looks like an actual reason, not an excuse, but Paul is the exception to that. He played better the year before last, before he had surgery and while he was injured. He came back last year, not on a bad team, but on a good one and lost his lineup spot. I don't think he started very well on the Leafs, and I was a little surprised he had the centre spot over Sissons while they were on a line together. What we should be expecting from Paul is part of why he underwhelms. He is primarily a third-liner who is versatile and good enough at the game to plausibly play up the lineup some of the time. The time came with John Tavares and Kirill Marchenko both out for Paul to move up, and he's been okay some of the time and very outmatched at other times. He did this trick in Tampa for years where he played some of his time on the second line. He got away with it with a high shot rate that got him points and good defensive play, often with players not very able in that regard. But all of that was on a team that was routinely controlling play very well. He has the lowest shot rate he's ever had so far this season, and he's looking a lot less plausible as an emergency top-six replacement. This is a serious problem for the Leafs because, while they signed three new players who can be the 3C every day or in an emergency, Paul was the only believable choice to move higher. And it's not working very well. Add to that, the play right now is to move Tavares to the wing with Paul still taking the 2C spot. I don't think the problems so far are his fault, since you can't fairly decry a player for who they aren't. His $3 million AAV is on the money for what he actually is. He's just the guy standing there exposed by the hole in the forward lineup that may be a lot more serious than who should play on the wings. Paul, not Marchenko, is the replacement for Matt Knies and his eye-test-friendly style of play. What Paul brings is more hockey and less points. Paul alone can't make the team have possession of the puck more. So he might continue to seem not good enough for a role that's extremely hard to fill. In other words, Dylan Larkin or Elias Pettersson would be an improvement at 2C, but they aren't likely to show up any time soon. We'll see how this goes but when Marchenko is back, it seems like Paul the 2C should likely stop being a thing. ### Brandon Duhaime Once the PK got going, Brandon Duhaime was doing all the things expected of him: agitation, speed and PK ability. The fourth line is fun, and they do their job, which is not going to be to score much since they are supposed to be getting a stoppage and getting the hell off the ice when they gain the offensive zone. I said he was equivalent to Steven Lorentz except he takes penalties and stirs things up, and that's what he's been. ### Teddy Blueger Like Paul, Teddy Blueger took a little longer to settle into the team than Roslovic, for example. Maybe that's partly minutes played per game, or the early PK struggles. Now, he's a very good defensive-impact depth forward who could play more minutes and likely be just as good. ### Zack MacEwen He has played less in terms of games and minutes than his fellows on the fourth line, but he's been fine. And even better – fun. All four of the new depth players – so the fourth line and Sissons – play against forwards higher up the depth chart than themselves. They do, however, all play with better defenders, which is one of the ways this shutdown business is working. So there we are, a largely successful set of acquisitions that fill all the roles on the team that were troubling in the past. And just like every other aspect of the Leafs, just add more puck possession and stir, and the drink will be fantastic. --- Both Canada and USA won their opening games yesterday at worlds. Both teams are off today. Tonight begins the HHOF induction events, but the game where the inductees will be introduced will be Sunday's vs the Devils. [HHOF | 2026 Induction Schedule - Nov. 7-9Discover the full slate of Induction Weekend events.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/34/01/3401a938-f468-4c02-a227-9bc4cc09bad4/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-190b63fb-b229-4ff0-921a-b6e227957db8.png)Hockey Hall of FameHockey Hall of Fame![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/34/01/3401a938-f468-4c02-a227-9bc4cc09bad4/content/images/thumbnail/IND26-Social-Sharing-Card-42bcbc02-3b26-41e6-aa11-fb4b39b19fbf.jpg)](https://www.hhof.com/induction/induction2026/inductionweekend.html?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) > They don't ask how, Artie 😉 [pic.twitter.com/9bcXBGci1I](https://t.co/9bcXBGci1I?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) > > — Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) [November 7, 2026](https://x.com/TorontoMarlies/status/2118866839971242027?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) > Every year it’s an honour visiting [@Sunnybrook](https://x.com/Sunnybrook?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) Veterans Centre > > Thank you for your service, sacrifice & stories 💙 [pic.twitter.com/3qqnLd9hTJ](https://t.co/3qqnLd9hTJ?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) > > — Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) [November 6, 2026](https://x.com/MapleLeafs/status/2118842322779828303?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) On that note, see you later to preview the Leafs vs whoever that is they're playing.