It looks like the Leafs might finally be developing some homegrown talent up front

For much of the Toronto Maple Leafs' recent history, the narrative surrounding the team has been that its expensive top forwards have prevented them from building a balanced enough roster to progress in the postseason.

While Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander are deserving of some criticism for the club's postseason disappointments, it's undeniably been difficult to build around them up front — putting plenty of pressure on their shoulders.

The Maple Leafs' cap situation has led to the team continually constructing its bottom-six forward group cheaply. While they've had some success with players like Jason Spezza and Ilya Mikheyev, more often than not Toronto has iced a shallow forwards corps.

It's looking like that has a chance to change, and not just due to the possibilities presented by the Nylander-at-centre experiment. Instead, it appears there's more reason to be optimistic about the Maple Leafs' capacity to develop and graduate forwards than there's been in quite some time.

Whether 19-year-old centre Fraser Minten is able to surprise the Maple Leafs and make the 2023-24 roster or not, Toronto appears to have some talent coming down the pipe in the near term.

Minten has impressed coach Sheldon Keefe by looking more pro-ready than expected, Matthew Knies flashed an impressive skill set in the playoffs, 2023 first-round pick Easton Cowan made an excellent first impression on the franchise, and Nick Robertson is still just 22 and has a chance to get on track after numerous injury setbacks.

It's possible that Knies is the only one of that quartet to make a significant impact in 2023-24, but the Maple Leafs have some promising youngsters buzzing around their roster. Outside of defencemen Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren, that hasn't been the norm lately.

Looking at the four seasons since the first Matthews extension kicked in, Toronto hasn't gotten much from forwards under 25 on entry-level deals:

2019-20

• Pierre Engvall (15 points in 48 games)

• Dmitry Timashov (9 points in 39 games)

• Adam Brooks (3 points in 7 games)

• Egor Korshkov (1 point in 1 game)

• Mason Marchment (1 point in 4 games)

2020-21

• Pierre Engvall (12 points in 32 games)

• Nick Robertson (1 point in 6 games)

2021-22

• Nick Robertson (1 point in 10 games)

• Nicholas Abbruzzese (1 point in 9 games)

• Alex Steeves (1 point in 3 games)

2022-23

• Pontus Holmberg (13 points in 37 games)

• Nick Robertson (5 points in 15 games)

• Nicholas Abbruzzese (2 points in 2 games)

• Matthew Knies (1 point in 3 games)

• Semyon Der-Arguchintsev (0 points in 1 game)

Points aren't the only way to judge player impact, of course, and there are also guys who don't quite fit this criteria, but fit the spirit of young forwards who have made some impact — like Joey Anderson and Trevor Moore. Mikheyev also debuted with the Maple Leafs as a 25-year-old and could be construed as a developmental success.

Even so, this all paints a pretty grim picture. Toronto simply hasn't been able to get any help for Matthews and Co. from within.

There are a few reasons for that, ranging from the team using its top three picks the year after the superstar was drafted on two defenceman and a goalie, and its top two selections the next year on goaltending.

The Maple Leafs also traded away their first-round picks in 2019, 2021 and 2022, and their 2020 choice — Rodion Amirov — died tragically due to a brain tumour.

While it's never fair to expect any individual late-round pick to become a major contributor, the Maple Leafs haven't gotten any pleasant surprises, yet.

Between 2017 and 2022, Toronto selected 17 forwards in the third round or later. The book isn't written on all of those guys, but they've played a total of 49 NHL games — with 37 coming from Pontus Holmberg in 2022-23. There may be more to come on that count, but nothing is assured there.

Knies won't have to be a star — or close to it — to become the best forward the Maple Leafs have developed since Matthews. Minten looks like he'll arrive sooner than expected, whether that's at the outset of 2023-24 or not. Cowan still has plenty to prove, but the criticism the Maple Leafs endured for picking him in the first round is looking less solid. Robertson remains an intriguing a wild card, even though his career path hasn't been linear.

It's been a long time since the Maple Leafs seemed to have a young cohort coming up with the chance to fill important roles behind the team's top forwards. That may not come to pass as these guys don't have incredible draft pedigrees — or the kind of lower-league numbers that make them seem destined for stardom.

The Maple Leafs don't need new stars, though, they need depth with a little more skill than you can find on the free-agent scrap heap. There's plenty of reason to believe their young internal options may provide that in the nearish future.

In theory, the best way to take some pressure off Toronto's top forwards by adding real talent behind them was always internal development. Getting veteran Cup chasers or homecoming greybeards at minimum, or near-minimum, salaries had a reasonable floor as a team-building strategy, but the ceiling was never there.

Toronto has done what it's had to do up front in recent seasons to make a difficult salary-cap situation work. If they can get a few young forwards breaking through in the next couple of years it will give the Maple Leafs the flexibility to craft the position group with intention, instead of holding it together with duct tape.