Can Matias Maccelli be a first-line player for the Maple Leafs?

Let’s face facts: The Toronto Maple Leafs can’t replace Mitch Marner. Although Marner became the poster child for the Maple Leafs’ many playoff failures, he averaged more than 90 points per 82 games over his nine seasons in Toronto.

To paraphrase Brad Pitt as Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane in Moneyball, the Maple Leafs will have to try to recreate Marner in the aggregate. One of the players who will be tasked with making up some of the production that Marner took with him to Las Vegas is Matias Maccelli, whom the Maple Leafs acquired in late June from the Utah Mammoth.

Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving bought low on Maccelli, trading the Mammoth a conditional third-round draft pick in 2027 that converts to a second-round pick if Maccelli reaches at least 51 points. That seems