Toronto Marlies 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs Preview

After a dominant 2015-2016 regular season campaign in the American Hockey League, the Toronto Marlies are poised for a very deep playoff run.

It’s safe to say that expectations are high – championship high – in Toronto with regards to the Marlies. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be. After all, you don’t aim low after having a .750 win percentage and terrorizing the entire league over 76 games.

The regular season was highlighted by that .750 win percentage which was good enough for third in AHL history. Toronto Marlies defender T.J. Brennan took home the Eddie Shore Trophy as the leagues top defenceman – for the second time in three seasons – after scoring 25 goals and adding 43 assists for 68 points in 69 games. Brennan finished third in overall AHL scoring and tops among Marlies players.

William Nylander and Mark Arcobello were two of seven AHL players in the top 125 in scoring to meet or eclipse a point per game average.

Nylander was sidelined due to the World Junior Championships, an injury and his call-up with the Toronto Maple Leafs that kept him out of enough games to leave him outside his projected top-5 scoring finish.

The Marlies had 51 different skaters and eight different goaltenders take to the ice this year according to the individual stats page at marlies.ca. They had four 20+ goal scorers and another 10 finish in double digits below 20 goals, though four of those 14 players with 10 or more goals had tallies on other teams.

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The goaltending duo of Antoine Bibeau and Garret Sparks provided a solid base in the crease but were supplemented with some good play by replacement goaltenders throughout the year. Sparks was on fire in the AHL prior to becoming the Toronto Maple Leafs tank driver. He finished with a .928 save percentage on the season.

Playoff Keys:

Coaching

The Toronto Marlies have one of, if not the, best coaches in the entire league. Sheldon Keefe has kept this team focused and driven all season long. Through the constant stream of call-ups, the Toronto Marlies remained on track and dominated the league. Even after losing some of his star young players, most notably Nylander, for a significant period of time, they just kept winning.

He’s running a Babcock-type system with a lot of success. That’s evident by how well the Toronto Marlies did this year, as well as how well the players played when they were called up to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Being out-coached in the Calder Cup Playoffs isn’t going to be a concern for the Toronto Marlies.

Goaltending

What the Toronto Marlies will need, though, is strong goaltending. Sparks has clearly been the better AHL goalie this year but if Bibeau gets the call based on recent play then he’s going to need to step up and prove he deserves that call. The Marlies may have averaged 3.87 goals per game this year but you can’t go into a game thinking you have that many in the bank.

This is a chance for both Bibeau and Sparks, whoever gets the crease, to audition for the Toronto Maple Leafs next season prior to training camp.

The Youth Movement

William Nylander, Connor Brown and Brendan Leipsic in their second AHL seasons as well as Zach Hyman in his first were big offensive players for this club in the regular season. That’s going to need to continue.

This club needs the full youth effort that helped propel them to the third best record in AHL history to be present and accounted for.

The Veterans

This group is led by Arcobello, Smith (yes, third year AHLer Colin Smith is a veteran for me on this team) and Brennan. This trio combined for 70 goals and 183 regular season points including Smith’s points from his previous club.

That’s a big chunk of offense that the Toronto Marlies can’t afford to be missing come playoff time. Brennan is the quarterback from the blueline who generates more offense than most (re: all but two this year) forwards in the American Hockey League. He might be the biggest piece of the puzzle for the Marlies success.

Special Teams

Special teams may not be as important when you’re steamrolling the league, but playoff hockey tends to tighten up and those 5v4 and 4v5 situations become a little more stressful.

The Toronto Marlies were 10th in the league in power play percentage with 17.4% and 12th in penalty kill percentage at 84.0%. Neither of these totals stand out so it’s important they continue their strong 5v5 play and stay away from the penalty box.

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The 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs kick off against the Bridgeport Soundtigers on April 23rd, with the Marlies opting to start the playoffs on the road. Here’s the schedule for the best-of-five opening series from TheAHL.com:

"Game 1 – Sat., Apr. 23 – Toronto at Bridgeport, 7:00 Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 24 – Toronto at Bridgeport, 5:00 Game 3 – Thu., Apr. 28 – Bridgeport at Toronto, 7:30 *Game 4 – Fri., Apr. 29 – Bridgeport at Toronto, 7:30 *Game 5 – Sun., May 1 – Bridgeport at Toronto, 3:00"