We’ll start this off with a major positive. Auston Matthews had a monster week with a pair of 4pt games against Nashville and Colorado, while adding an assist in their game against Vegas. He has looked more dangerous than we’ve seen in years, which has lead many fans to wonder exactly what Craig Berube was doing, as it seems that he stifled Matthews’ offensive game even more than anybody thought. New head coach, Jim Hiller, appears more than willing to allow Matthews to be creative in the offensive zone, while using him often in all situations. Matthews is tied for 2nd in the NHL among forwards in TOI/GP (22.13 minutes/game), with Macklin Celebrini, behind only Connor McDavid. What I think has impressed me even more than his on-ice play is his off ice leadership though. When you see things like this…
… and this…
… and this…
… it makes you feel as if the Captain is beginning to truly act like your Captain. Now, it’s normal for teammates to heap praise on one another, if they’re hurling insults then you’re in a lot of trouble in a host of different ways, but this has been hitting differently than in years past. Matthews appears lighter and happier somehow, as if he’s enjoying the game again and understands that players such as William Nylander or Kirill Marchenko won’t require much touting, but his star rookie and their depth pieces will appreciate it. It’s that type of public approval from your Captain that can make you feel like you’re part of the team, which is necessary for success. Everything that he’s doing right now can only mean good things for the Leafs.
What may hurt them is the loss of Chris Tanev…
I think what concerns me the most is how innocent the play that lead to him exiting the game looked. That’s the type of contact that we see all over the ice 100 times a game and it only ramps up come playoff time (understatement). If Tanev is unable to cope with this type of physical play just 6 games into the season, what does that mean for him long term? What’s worse again is the fact that Tanev is an integral part of the blueline. His ability to play shut down hockey and anchor your penalty kill, while also being above average at moving the puck out of the zone is integral to success. The Leafs don’t have the blueline depth to properly replace him in the top 4, which has many wondering if they’ll be doubling down in their efforts to find additional help.
When I first read this I almost dismissed it. Whitecloud is a right shooting, stay-at-home defender with good size, but at the time the Leafs had Darren Raddysh, Chris Tanev, Troy Stecher and Nick Blankenburg as right shooting defenders, which made me wonder if an additional top 4 left defender would take precedence. With Tanev’s health I now believe that they desperately need to add two top 4 defensemen, one for each side of the ice. Whitecloud would be a welcome addition to the right side, but who would fit on the left is a more complicated question.
What the Leafs are truly missing is a #1 defender. With all due respect to Darren Raddysh and even prime Morgan Rielly, they don’t have that type of player at the moment and haven’t had one in an awfully long time. The issue is that it’s extremely difficult to find those types of players but what’s worse is that when they do become available, it doesn’t appear that the Leafs truly commit to landing them. Case in point, Zach Werenski was reportedly willing to be traded to Leafs last spring, but at the end it seems that John Chayka thought that he had the Columbus Blue Jackets cornered and could land Werenski without giving up their prized trade chip, Matthew Knies. The Jackets and Werenski pulled back from the trade request and did some serious PR work to patch the relationship with their fans after Don Waddell’s price for the defender wasn’t met. At the end of the day the Leafs still traded Knies to Columbus, but for Marchenko instead of Werenski, which has landed them in a familiar position of having a solid top 6 forward group, while their defense is questionable at best.
My question to you is this. If you were in Chayka’s seat right now, would you trade Marchenko for Werenski? If you say no to that, I can only say that I highly disagree. The defender has played over 29 minutes a night through Columbus’ first 4 games to start the season, which includes big special teams minutes and is elite at both ends of the ice. He’s everything they need and more, so if they were going to trade Knies anyway, I would have much preferred that they do it for an elite defender than another top 6 forward. This isn’t to say that I haven’t appreciated Marchenko, but it is me saying that, once again, the Leafs appear to have taken their biggest swing on another winger, while their defense and centre positions are still in need of the most help.
John Tavares can’t be your #2C forever. I’ve been screaming for the team to draft and develop a potential #2C that can eventually take over for him for years now.
Wait, they did that. It was Fraser Minten.
Okay, let me rephrase that.
I’ve been screaming for the team to draft, develop and avoid trading a potential #2C that can eventually take over for Tavares for years now. While we can all hold out hope for Tinus Luc Koblar, it appears that the need for a 2C may be approaching more quickly than ever and he’ll need time to develop. The team literally decided to switch gears this summer, as they concentrated on obtaining players that are faster than any that the previous regime brought in. That added speed has made Tavares look slower than ever, while he also hasn’t had immediate chemistry between the pair of Gavin McKenna and William Nylander. Easton Cowan fit better on that line, but it still wasn’t what we have come to expect from the 2nd line in years past. The only real issue is that none of the other centres on the roster bring enough offense to the table to truly keep pace with the likes of Nylander and McKenna. Yes, Colton Sissons and Nick Paul have had solid offensive years in the past and both are fine solutions in a stop-gap scenario if injuries are hurting the teams top 6, but long term, they simply aren’t the solution. It could also be argued that moving Tavares to 3C or the wing could help to spread out the offense among the top 9, but once again, that isn’t a long term solution.
What the team needs to do, and I can’t scream this loud enough, is stop prioritizing wingers before they shore up the blueline and the middle of the ice.
Not only that, but they need to go big game hunting.
At the moment there are 3 teams left in the NHL that haven’t recorded a win. They are the Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames. Of those 3 it appears that the Flyers are in the most trouble, with Calgary being a close second. In the Flames’ case this was predictable. They are solidly in rebuild mode and lack just about everything you need to be successful. The Flyers, however, had much higher expectations after finishing 3rd in the Metro Division last season with 98pts. More than the fact that they haven’t recorded a win through their first 7 games is the fact that they have looked absolutely uninspired during those games. The team has no jump, no direction and after just 1 year behind the bench, it appears that Rick Tocchet is at major risk of losing his job as their head coach.
The question from there is if some of the players would look to get out of town and further to that, the right players that the Leafs would need. Travis Sanheim is the dream scenario if things end up being too far gone there, while Cam York is another top 4 option that can slot in on the left side. While Rasmus Ristolainen will most certainly be on the market, I feel as if John Chayka won’t have a ton of interest in the big blueliner, instead preferring faster options, such as the (probably) unavailable-even-in-a-rebuild Jamie Drysdale.
Trevor Zegras is pointless through 7 games, doesn’t possess any trade protection, has 3 more season’s left on his deal after this one and is just 25 years old. I’m not making suggestions. I’m simply stating facts.
One last thing that I will assume is a fact; nothing happens to the roster in Philadelphia until Tocchet is gone and the new head coach gets some runway. I just wonder how long all of that will take.
With a couple of good outings, the Leafs powerplay is tied for 6th in the NHL with a 26.3% success rate. Meanwhile, their penalty kill is 2nd with a 95% success rate. They’ve scored 5 goals on 19 opportunities while up a man, but have allowed just 1 goal against while shorthanded. Obviously this is very early in the season, but this is something that simply needs to continue through the winter and into the spring. Teams that have the most success with their special teams generally have a lot of success in the post season.
To be honest, there are far more positives than anything so far this year. I could pick apart some of the negatives things I’ve seen, but overall this team has looked far different than the one we saw last season. Every group is going to have bad shifts, bad periods, bad games and even bad stretches, but it should all equal out in the end, which has me feeling like they’re destined for the post season once again if they can simply keep their current momentum.