The ability to score in bunches is not a reliable way to win consistently; that’s where Marner’s production mattered too. When you have Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Marner as your top scoring threats, one or two of them can be having off games and you’ll still feel good about your chances of winning. Take one away, and it adds pressure to the remaining three to get it done.

The power play is a big concern. The Maple Leafs are 4-for-33 this season. That’s alarming, considering they had a 24.8 percent success rate last season (tied for eighth in NHL) and averaged 24.2 percent in Marner’s nine seasons from 2016-25. He averaged 25 points with the man-advantage per season, including 32 per season from 2022-25. More alarming is the fact that in 13 games, Toronto has only had 33 power plays. It’s averaging 4:17 of ice time per game on the power play and 2.54 power-play opportunities per game, 28th and 29th in the League, respectively. That’s a carryover from last season, when the Maple Leafs were 20th in power plays per game (2.66) and 25th in power play ice time per game (4:14). So, that’s not a Marner in-or-out issue; it’s a team-wide issue.

Your prediction for Cale Makar‘s next contract? — @Avsman0

Eight years, $128 million. That’s eight seasons for Makar’s jersey, No. 8. It’s an average annual value of $16 million per season. Eight is a factor of 16, for all the math wizards out there. It’s $8 million less than Kirill Kaprizov is getting on his eight-year, $136 million contract with the Minnesota Wild.

Makar is eligible to re-sign on July 1, 2026. He can re-sign an eight-year contract through Sept. 15, 2026. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement begins Sept. 16, and that’s when the maximum contract length for players re-signing with their current teams drops to seven years from eight. Makar can still squeeze an eight-year contract into the window between when he becomes eligible to re-sign and the new CBA begins.

Where are you on the Bruins? They have a lot of the core locked up, but at the same time feels like they really could use a reset. — @punmasterrifkin

You nailed it. They are a cap team caught in between, trying to reset around the core but lacking enough scoring depth and speed to be consistent. Their structure has to be on point every game, their defensive efforts massive. It’s a lot to ask.

The Bruins’ core is locked up with forwards David Pastrnak, Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie, defensemen Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, and goalie Jeremy Swayman all signed through at least the 2029-30 season. It’s a strong core. Geekie, especially, is growing into one of the more underrated players in the League; he has nine goals in 15 games this season and 40 in 70 games since Dec. 4 of last season. That was one fewer than Pastrnak in the same number of games in the same span.

But it’s not enough to expect the Bruins to be a playoff contender. Depth is a concern, as is speed. They don’t have the puck enough. It can be hard to clearly identify their identity on a game-to-game basis. Their draft history is suspect too; of their 49 selections since the 2017 NHL Draft, only Swayman, forward John Beecher and defenseman Mason Lohrei are currently playing for the Bruins.

Marco Sturm was hired as coach, and Boston acquired forwards Viktor Arvidsson, Tanner Jeannot, Sean Kuraly and Michael Eyssimont for forward depth in the offseason. But the Bruins are now without Elias Lindholm (lower body, week to week), which is a huge loss. Marat Khusnutdinov, 23, is getting a chance to center the top line between Geekie and Pastrnak. Fraser Minten, 21, is the third-line center. When they play with structure, it helps them limit chances and win games, the way they did in a 2-1 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. But winning that way enough to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs will be difficult.

They’re in the mushy middle.