How new Maple Leafs can help Toronto avoid repeat disappointment vs. Lightning

For the second consecutive season, the Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Last year's battle was an evenly-matched seven-game affair, but the Maple Leafs need to elevate their game if they hope to get past a team that's made three straight Stanley Cup Finals appearances.

Toronto will be leaning on a core that's experienced playoff disappointment after playoff disappointment in recent seasons, but the team's supporting cast has changed significantly.

The team's hope of escaping the first round for the first time since the Mats Sundin era will largely rest on players who weren't present when these teams last met.

Here's a rundown of the Maple Leafs players who didn't participate in the 2021-22 showdown with the Lightning, and the effect they could have on this series:

The big-ticket addition

When you add a Conn Smythe Trophy winner to your lineup, the hope is that he can be a difference maker in the playoffs.

O'Reilly isn't the same guy he was back in 2018-19, but he gives the Maple Leafs an enormous amount of lineup flexibility. Toronto can use him to supercharge a second line that includes John Tavares and William Nylander, or drop him down the lineup to give the Leafs a two-way presence on the third line, which could be a more enticing option when the series shifts to Tampa and the Lightning get last change and control the matchups.

The Maple Leafs haven't been this deep down the middle since Nazem Kadri was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in 2019. It's fair to say Toronto has an edge at the centre position in this matchup. That wasn't the case last year when they had to lean heavily on David Kämpf, who ranked fourth among Maple Leafs forwards in shifts, ahead of both Tavares and Nylander.

The goaltender seeking redemption

The Maple Leafs rolled the dice on two new goalies prior to 2022-23, and while Matt Murray had a lost season, Samsonov obliterated expectations.

Tampa Bay clearly retains the goaltending edge in this series with Andre Vasilevskiy between the pipes, but Samsonov is coming off a career season that saw him flash the talent that made him a first-round pick back in 2015.

That's no guarantee of postseason excellence, especially considering the Russian's playoff track record is unimpressive. In two runs with the Washington Capitals, he won just one of eight starts and produced a mediocre .907 save percentage.

Now, Samsonov is looking to demonstrate an ability to win in the playoffs and he'll have to do it for a team that has been snakebitten in its pursuit of the Stanley Cup.

The second big midseason addition

There is nothing flashy about Jake McCabe's game to the point that games where he goes totally unnoticed are often his best outings.

Despite a lack of offensive flair, the veteran plays a crucial role on the Maple Leafs, providing nearly 20 minutes of steadying play per night. Unlike O'Reilly, the defenceman isn't providing something Toronto didn't have last year, though.

Instead, McCabe is the closest thing to a Jake Muzzin replacement the team has. The 29-year-old's game isn't as bombastic as Muzzin's, but he'll soak up minutes in difficult matchups and help stiffen the Maple Leafs' defensive spine.

He is unlikely to be one of the focal points of the series, but he should make life a little bit easier for his teammates whenever he's on the ice.

The young gun

Considering the Maple Leafs have so much cap space tied up in their top quartet of forwards, they've always been on the lookout for cheap, effective talent to put around them.

More often than not, those players have been veterans on short-term deals, but in this instance the team has developed a promising power forward in Matthew Knies.

His three NHL games at the end of the regular season were a mixed bag, but he has more game-breaking ability than most of the team's wingers already and knows how to use his 210-pound frame.

Knies hasn't entered coach Sheldon Keefe's circle of trust just yet and is beginning this series as Toronto's 13th forward. It's possible he makes no impact against the Lightning, but he's a notable X-factor.

The other guys

As usual, the bottom of the Maple Leafs roster has been steadily churning over the past year and it's now equipped with a number of role players who could factor in to this series' outcome.

Calle Järnkrok: Järnkrok is coming off a career-best offensive season that included his first time reaching the 20-goal mark. The veteran Swede has moved up and down the lineup and meshed with everyone he's played with effectively. He could provide the type of secondary punch the Maple Leafs have often lacked in the playoffs.

Luke Schenn: Although Schenn played just 15 games in his second stint with Toronto, his style of play shone through as he delivered more than four times as many hits (60) as shots on net (13). At this point of his career, Schenn provides 15 minutes per night of bruising defensive hockey with no offensive upside and dubious footspeed.

Noel Acciari: Acciari has broadly delivered on expectations since joining the Maple Leafs in the O'Reilly trade. He wins faceoffs, delivers hits, kills penalties, wins battles and puts in the occasion goal. His possession metrics are unimpressive, but Toronto buries him in the defensive zone often (65.5%). Within the context he holds his own.

Sam Lafferty: Like Acciari, Lafferty was a midseason acquisition, but it's safe to say he's made less of a mark since joining the Maple Leafs. Lafferty's trademark skill is his speed and he's a pure fourth-liner tasked with doing some hard forechecking and avoiding critical mistakes.

Erik Gustafsson: Gustafsson hasn't played much after coming over from the Capitals in the Rasmus Sandin trade, and he may not see the ice in this series. He is a skilled playmaker who would crack the top-six on a few playoff teams. If the Maple Leafs' offence ever feels stale he will be an option to shake this up, but for now the team seems to be prioritizing defensive rigidity on the blueline.

Zach Aston-Reese: Only the most optimistic Maple Leafs fans would expect Aston-Reese to have a significant effect on this series. The fourth-line winger has some playoff experience from his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but he's never been much of an offensive producer and Toronto would like to see some low-event hockey from him.

What about the Lightning?

Compared to the Maple Leafs, the Lightning have been paragons on continuity.

Michael Eyssimont is Tampa Bay's only forward who didn't participate in last year's series, and he's a 26-year-old who scored a grand total of five goals with three different teams this season. Tanner Jeannot was supposed to add some life and physicality to this group, but he won't be ready for the beginning of this series due to a leg injury.

On the blueline, the Maple Leafs face three players who weren't present last time around — Ian Cole, Darren Raddysh, and Nicklaus Perbix — but they are all role players who they won't have to do much game planning for.

That's not be say that Cole, Raddysh and Perbix aren't adding value to their team, but they are stay-at-home-types who rarely move the needle. Cole is 34 and the other two are rookies on the older side. All three play second fiddle to more dynamic defence partners like Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev.

The Lightning's goaltending situation hasn't changed as Vasilevskiy is tending the crease after yet another strong season.

Tampa Bay simply hasn't made many upgrades — or changes of any kind — to the team that it brought into the 2021-22 playoffs. That's hardly an indictment on the Lightning's chances in this series. Bringing back a team that just made a run to the Stanley Cup Finals is rarely a bad thing.