As the NHL season begins Wednesday night, so does the Auston Matthews era for the Toronto Maple Leafs. His debut marks the first big step for a franchise away from their sizable teardown of an abysmal roster with worse results and into a new beginning.
Few expect the Maple Leafs to make drastic steps forward this year, but the roster they will ice in Ottawa Tuesday night is better than the one they closed out last season with. A lot of that has to do with the young players they've added through the draft or other means. Players like Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and recently-acquired goalie Frederik Andersen are some of the newer, younger arrivals that will hope to help Toronto turn the page.