Toronto Maple Leafs: Time for the Forward Depth to Step Up

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without their best player and noted perfect human, Auston Matthews tonight.

Nursing a lingering upper-body injury, the Toronto Maple Leafs wisely made the decision to provide their franchise cornerstone with the opportunity to heal, hoping to avoid the further aggravation of whatever ailment is plaguing him.

Before you even say anything, I agree. This sucks. A Leafs game without Matthews is like Twitter with 280 characters. It just doesn’t feel right, and, honestly, what’s even the point?

Now, a lesser team (Edmonton) would be forced to play their star through a lingering injury, believing that, without him, their chances of winning are slim.

Luckily, the Leafs are no lesser team.

Matthews is able to rest because the Leafs possess a luxury, one which lesser teams simply do not: unparalleled forward depth.

Reinforcements

Feast your eyes upon the Leafs projected lineup for tonight’s contest with the Minnesota Wild, in lieu of Matthews’ absence.

Even when missing one of the NHL’s top-five players, that is a lineup other teams would salivate over.

First, take a gander at their centre depth. Down the middle, the Leafs can slot in a 30 goal scorer (Nazem Kadri), a career 500 goal scorer (Patrick Marleau), a perennial 40-50 point getter (Tyler Bozak), and, uh, Dominic Moore.

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Yeah, not every lineup can be perfect.

Next, shift your focus over to the wings, where this lineup really gets juicy. On the corners, the Leafs boast one 30-goal scorer (James van Riemsdyk), three 20-goal scorers (Leo Komarov, William Nylander and Connor Brown), a guy who could be a 20 goal scorer if only given the chance (Josh Leivo), a 2016-17 Rookie of the Month winner (Mitch Marner), one of the NHL’s best fore-checkers (Zach Hyman), and, uh, Matt Martin.

Like I said, not every lineup is perfect.

Regardless, a team is able to ride that kind of depth aaaaaalll the way to the playoffs, even on its own accord. And, with every player firing on all cylinders, you may even win a round or two.

However…

Shakey Lately

Recently, “firing on all cylinders” has been the last term used when describing this team’s performance.

Bozak and JVR have been playing defence with all the urgency of an autumn stroll through a farmers market. Komarov has been so invisible that, prior to viewing that lineup, I had completely forgotten he was still playing. And don’t even get me started on Moore, whose play has been so lackluster, that the Leafs felt compelled to call up Frederik Gauthier as an insurance policy. 

On paper, this lineup reads like a formidable offensive arsenal. Unfortunately, hockey games aren’t played on paper.

So far this season, Matthews has been the lone straw stirring the Leafs drink. In fact, I’m convinced he sustained this current injury from carrying his entire team on his back for all 16 games.

Frankly, if this team wants to be labelled as a true contender, they need to play like one. And true contenders win, even when without their star.

We know what this team is capable of. Marner and Nylander can single-handedly take over games through nothing other than their sheer skill. JVR and Bozak can run an elite power play unit. All of Brown, Komarov and Hyman can forecheck so vigorously, it causes their opponents to develop aneurysms.

In the past, these Leafs have proven what they can do. However, when faced with proving himself, or herself, a professional athlete’s job is never finished. Tonight, every Leaf will be required to do their job again.

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Time to Step Up

This team is faced with two options for tonight’s game.

Option A: they can play the same uninspired, disorganized brand of hockey as their last six games and lose.

Or, Option B: they can play how they’re capable of playing, and blow the flailing Wild out of the water.

I can tell you which option a contender would take. Let’s hope the Leafs follow suit.