The Toronto Maple Leafs announced this week that they have signed forward Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger and Brandon Duhaime, a trio that each brings a track record of shorthanded responsibility from their previous clubs.
General manager Kyle Dubas framed the moves as a way to deepen the team’s penalty‑killing unit, noting that all three players have logged substantial minutes while skating on the power play’s opposite side.
Auston Matthews, who finished last season sixth among Leafs forwards in total ice time on the penalty kill, saw his shorthanded minutes drop to 70:07 over the course of the campaign, a reduction from the 1:37 per game average he posted in the prior year.
Coach Jim Hiller’s Offensive Emphasis
Head coach Jim Hiller said the organization wants to give Matthews more opportunities to operate in the offensive zone, a shift that could allow the star center to reclaim the scoring touch that made him a perennial threat.
‘We’ll help him to do that, I know he wants to do that. Great offensive players love to have the puck. We’ll look at ways to get him more of those types of opportunities,’ Hiller explained during the team’s recent press conference.
By offloading some of the penalty‑kill duties to Sissons, Blueger and Duhaime, the coaching staff believes Matthews can focus more on generating chances at even strength and on the power play, potentially revitalizing his offensive output.
The move also reflects a broader trend across the league, where teams are increasingly compartmentalizing specialized roles, allowing top talent to maximize their strengths without the burden of extensive defensive assignments.
If the experiment proves successful, the Maple Leafs could see a more balanced lineup in which the newly acquired forwards anchor the penalty kill while Matthews roams the offensive zones, a configuration that could prove decisive in a tightly contested Atlantic Division race.