Toronto Maple Leafs: Ten Point Week In Review

The Toronto Maple Leafs won one game and lost another in a week that saw them only play two games.

Here is this week’s ten point review on the Toronto Maple Leafs past few days.

1) In non-Leafs-week-related pondering, Morgan Rielly’s perceived value might be higher than his actual value. I know, I know, everyone loves Morgan Rielly. I, too, would love for him to be a top pairing defender in the NHL but that’s just not the case right now in reality.

For all the trade talk about William Nylander – one of the Leafs actual best players – why are there no theories on dealing Rielly? If a player’s value is higher in perception than reality, why not cash in? The Leafs might be able to deal Rielly for a better defender. Food for thought.

2) Stick with perception, Mike Babcock talked earlier in the week about his elation on finding a defender in the summer (Zaitsev) that can play in your top pair. Playing on a teams top pairing and actually being a top pairing defender are two different things. Is Zaitsev really a top pairing defender currently? Or is he just there because it’s the Leafs?

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3) Curtis McElhinney got the start against his former team and that was a bad idea. I know it was a back to back and it made for a nice storyline, but we’re talking about a high flying Blue Jackets team preparing to ice their former backup netminder. The Leafs were doomed from the start if they didn’t score a pile of goals.

4) Sweet, sweet revenge on the New York Islanders. After blowing a game they should have won, the Leafs humiliated the Islanders in an offensive show of force led by the future Captain, Auston Matthews. The Leafs star has 27 goals now on one of the most impressive scoring campaigns ever by a Leafs rookie.

5) Nazem Kadri set a career high for goals this week and that’s great. It’s great because for years he’s taken a ridiculous amount of crap for no reason. He’s been criticized for not even being a good third line center when he’s really capable of being a top line guy. It’s not his fault he’s had to play on lines with the Leafs cast-offs. Oh, and he’s one point back of his 2015-2016 point total – in 20 less games. Not bad for a mediocre third liner, eh?

6) Mitch Marner got hurt and that sucks. It’s his own fault for crossing into the path of the Blue Jackets player, but it still sucks. Matt Martin was on the ice at the time of injury, which is strange because isn’t he supposed to play God and prevent injuries from happening to star players? Just kidding, Martin did right by not going after the Columbus player because, well, it wasn’t a dirty play. The Leafs are going to struggle offensively if Marner misses extended time.

7) Josh Leivo had a big week, recording five points in the two games. I wrote about that a few days ago, but let’s talk on it again. He’s undervalued within the organization and deserves to stay in the lineup. It’s time to forget about Soshnikov this year, healthy or not. He just isn’t playing well, and hasn’t all year. This is a playoff team that should be playing their best players. Leivo is currently in that category.

8) The referee’s were hard on Toronto this week. I hate talking about bad refereeing because it’s not an easy job, but the Leafs got the short end of the stick this week. Several bad calls/non-calls against the Islanders and a big miss against Columbus.

Zach Hyman was split wide open on a blatant high stick in front of a referee and there was no call. That’s a four minute powerplay the Leafs were robbed of. That makes a difference in a 4-2 game. I can understand if it was all ref-hate towards Kadri, because referee’s hate Kadri, but it was on everyone. Just brutal.

9) Rumors surfaced this week that the Leafs may be in on Landeskog and Duchene. That’s a strange scenario since the Toronto Maple Leafs have better players (Kadri,JVR) than both of the Avalanche stars. Neither is a fit, really, and if you’re going to be Landeskog $5.57M per year for four more years why not just give that to JVR for four or five years on a new deal? JVR is better, plain and simple.

10) It’s not Leafs related, but league-related, for the week: The NHL Department of Player Safety is an absolute travesty. Gustav Nyquist stabbed a guy in the face this week and received six games. Six. Games. That’s despicable. He should have been gone for the rest of the season. Completely inexcusable, indefensible and horrendous play that the league had a chance to send a message on. They missed the boat big time, but I guess we should expect that from the safety guys at this point. Shame on them.