Toronto Maple Leafs: Things to Watch on Opening Night
By Lauren Kelly
The puck will drop on the new Toronto Maple Leafs season in less than 12 hours.
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced their opening night roster Tuesday afternoon.
Defencemen Timothy Liljegren and Calle Rosen were loaned to the Toronto Marlies. Roman Polak was released from his PTO, but will continue to practice with the Leafs for the time being.
That means, of the remaining fringe players, all of Andreas Borgman, Josh Leivo, Martin Marincin, Dominic Moore, and Eric Fehr have made the final 23-man roster.
Based on the morning practice’s lines, it looks as though Borgman and Fehr will dress on Wednesday night versus the Winnipeg Jets. With the game less than a day away, let’s take a look at some things to watch tomorrow night.
Borgman’s NHL Debut
Rosen may have been the front runner at the beginning of the preseason, but Borgman impressed Leafs brass enough to secure his spot. Borgman may be 22 years old, but he’s still a rookie. Borgman will be paired with Connor Carrick, another relatively inexperienced NHLer. There will be some growing pains to start, especially versus Winnipeg, so Leafs fans may want to brace themselves for some cringe-worthy decisions. However, the more time he has to adjust to the NHL game, the easier it will be for him to play and for fans to watch him.
Rielly-Hainsey
The pairing has looked okay in preseason, but it hasn’t been without its shaky moments. Their underlying possession numbers are a little shocking, though. Their CF% at even strength together during the preseason was 71.43, which is extremely good. (Though several neutral site games did not have their statistics recorded) Rielly has a fairly even CF% at 50.00 without his partner. The shocking statistic is Hainsey’s CF% without Rielly: 33.33. That indicates that Rielly is the one improving their puck possession.
They haven’t been the tire-fire than fans had been predicting, though, so maybe there’s hope yet. However, I do recall disastrous results when Rielly played with another player wearing number two on his jersey. As long as they both play their games properly, without making poor decisions with and without the puck, they should be able to make it through the first game unscathed. But fans should definitely keep an eye on them Wednesday night.
Defensive Disaster?
The Leafs had difficulty shutting down Patrik Laine and his shot last season, like most other teams in the league. If they want to improve their chances of winning, they need to minimize the damage he causes. That means staying out of the penalty box and preventing the Jets’ set up in the offensive zone.
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They still have issues with defensive zone coverage, and that won’t change overnight. There are probably going to be turnovers, but hopefully the disastrous defense is in the past.
Faceoffs, Penalties, & Special Teams
The number of penalties called for faceoff violations and slashing has significantly decreased as preseason has continued, but it doesn’t mean that there won’t be any during the game.
The centres have adapted to the stricter calls, so we shouldn’t see too many more of them tossed from the hash marks from here on out.
In the event that the Leafs get into penalty trouble, it will be interesting to see how the penalty kill performs. At practice Tuesday morning, Patrick Marleau and Mitch Marner were seen taking reps on the penalty kill. Borgman may get some time killing penalties as well, but Rielly and Hainsey will likely see a bulk of the time on the PK.
As far as the powerplay goes, it seemed to move like a machine throughout the preseason. There shouldn’t be any drastic changes to the units, but fans should watch out to see if Babcock puts Rielly out on the powerplay more often than last season.
Summary
Wednesday’s game will probably not be as exciting as last season’s opener, but it doesn’t need to be. Sorry, Toronto Maple Leafs fans, but it’s very unlikely that Matthews or anyone else pots four goals, especially now that teams know what to expect. But as long as the Leafs stick to their game plan, defend their zone properly and stay out of penalty trouble, they should come out of Winnipeg with two points.