Auston Matthews headlines a thinned Maple Leafs lineup after deadline selloff

Toronto moved out real bodies up front, and Saturday's morning skate showed the cost.

Nicolas Roy is gone, and that stings because he was one of the few steady, matchup-ready options.

Roy, 29, leaves behind 5-15-20 in 59 games, plus another year at a $3 million cap hit. He was a 2015 fourth-round pick by the Carolina Hurricanes.

Scott Laughton is out too, which tells you this wasn't a soft reset. This was Toronto leaning into the skid.

Laughton, 31, had 8-4-12 in 43 games, and he can hit unrestricted free agency on July 1. He was a 2012 first-round pick by the Philadelphia Flyers.

With Bobby McMann also shipped out, the Leafs are basically asking their top-six to drag the roster every night.

Craig Berube's first post-deadline look had Matias Maccelli with Matthews and William Nylander. It's a swing for offense, but it screams «we're short on options.»

The next group had Matthew Knies stapled to John Tavares with Easton Cowan on the right side. That's a lot of responsibility for a kid in a stressful stretch.

Honestly, Leafs fans look tired more than angry right now, because this feels like watching the room get smaller in real time.

The bottom half reads like a nightly chemistry experiment, with Dakota Joshua, Max Domi, and Nick Robertson trying to create something from scraps.

Steven Lorentz, Jacob Quillan, and Calle Jarnkrok round it out, and it's hard to pretend that looks like a playoff-caliber fourth line.

On the blue line, Toronto stood pat despite the rumors, so the pairs stay familiar.

Morgan Rielly remains with Brandon Carlo, Jake McCabe runs with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Simon Benoit lines up beside Troy Stecher.

Anthony Stolarz gets the start against Tampa Bay, and his 7-8-3 record with a 3.36 GAA and .891 save percentage shows how thin the margin is.

Berube didn't exactly dress it up when asked how he's processing all this, basically pushing the conversation down the road. That's a coach protecting a room that knows it's in trouble.

The Leafs are 27-25-11, and the next game is about effort and structure more than vibes, because this lineup can't afford loose shifts or lazy penalties.