Toronto Maple Leafs New Years Resolutions
New Years Resolutions for the Toronto Maple Leafs:
Win the Atlantic.
The Lightning aren’t going to run away with the President’s Trophy. Eventually they will hit a rough spot. The Leafs can catch them and if they do, set themselves up for a much better playoff matchup. Better to play the Islanders, Hurricanes or Rangers than the Bruins.
The Leafs had a month of horrible goaltending, and a month without their best player. I don’t think the Lightning are a better team and I’d like to see the Toronto Maple Leafs prove it.
Give Matthews More Ice-Time
Last time the Leafs played a game, Roman Polak has more 5v5 ice-time than Auston Matthews. Mike Babcock needs to be better.
Matthews – last we checked – was barely top 40 in ice-time among centres. The Leafs are leaving a lot on the table by not playing him more.
I can’t be the only one constantly frustrated to see Matthews coming over the boards on the second power-play unit. I think he should kill penalties too.
Improve the Defense
The only Leafs defenseman who are above 50% CF are Rielly and Polak. And Polak ruins it by allowing almost 37 shots against / 60. The Leafs need to get back to a place where Polak hardly plays. He isn’t good.
When Rielly is on the ice without Ron Hainsey, he jumps from a 49% to a 55% player. The Leafs desperately need a partner for him.
Ron Hainsey is not a top four NHL defenseman in 2017. Polak isn’t a top six defenserman. With Zaitsev out and the coach not trusting Carrick, the Leafs played Polak and Hainsey in their top-four against Colorado on Friday.
A team with Polak and Hainsey is going nowhere. Improvements are needed.
Make Nylander a Centre
The Toronto Maple Leafs have Mitch Marner, which means they can still give Auston Matthews an elite winger if they choose to make Nylander a centre.
Making Nylander a centre either moves Bozak off the team and opens up nearly $5 million in cap-space, or it moves Bozak to the fourth line and gives the Leafs incredible depth at centre.
Matthews-Kadri-Nylander down the middle would be the best centre-ice depth in hockey, regardless of who’s playing on the fourth line.
This also makes room for Kasperi Kapanen on the team.
Kasperi Kapanen
Kapanen is the Leafs most NHL ready prospect. He’s better than several players currently on the NHL roster. He does not deserve to ever have to ride an AHL bus again. He’s made the NHL and deserves to have that recognized by a spot in the lineup and a bump in his salary.
There is not much more the guy can do to get a shot – when he plays, he plays well and tends to score important goals. He’s one of the fastest players in the league. He’s good defensively.
Make room for him already.
Clear up the Log-Jam
Depth is nice, but the Leafs already lost Brendan Leipsic because they had too many players. They play Connor Brown on the fourth line. As mentioned, Kapanen barely plays. Josh Leivo rarely plays.
Depth is good, but it’s a balance. If you can’t earn your way onto the team, if the best players don’t get the ice time they earned, it can cause problems. Connor Brown has no business on a fourth line (except under one circumstance which I’ll get to next). The Leafs have had a half a season to clean this up and are overdue to get it done.
Go Fully Offensive
If you could combine the October Leafs with the rest-of-the-season’s Fred Andersen, you’d have the best team in the NHL. By far.
The Leafs have won way more games than they probably should have so far this year, and that’s mostly because Andersen has inserted himself into the Vezina conversation.
The Leafs were better when they were crushing opponents with an unwavering offense. I’d like to see them embrace this. Sit Martin and Moore ( who is just awful) and convert Nylander to centre in order to get Kapanen in the lineup, then follow that up with a fourth line of Leivo-Bozak-Brown and see how many teams can keep you off the score-sheet.
The Leafs have a rare ability to throw wave after wave of offense at other teams. Their current fourth line contributes basically nothing, so I’d like to see them try this.
Mitch Marner Continue his Rise
Lost in the Holiday Seasons business is perhaps the greatest story to unfold for the Leafs so far this year: the rise of Mitch Marner.
Prior to the Colorado game on Friday, Marner had nine points in his previous four games. He’s on fire. In one of those games, he had an 80% possession rating. He is going to be an elite, all-star winger, and that begins now.
If you thought the Leafs were a decent team, just wait until Mitch Marner is one of the NHL’s best players.
Trade for a Defenseman
The Toronto Maple Leafs have an excess of wingers. They have all their draft picks and some decent prospects in the AHL. That means they have assets. They are also in a situation where their three best players make peanuts compared to the salary cap, and most of their other best players are in their primes on team-friendly deals. They have cap-space.
All of this adds up for a prime opportunity to make a move (or two) to give the team a really good chance to win the Stanley Cup – this year. I’d like to see them make the most of it. It wouldn’t be hard to go all-in this year without mortgaging the future, so the team should make it happen.
Babcock can do Better
I like Babcock, but some of his choices this season have been crazy, bordering on Carlye-esque.
Patrick Marleau doesn’t make a very good centre.
Roman Polak plays too much.
Morgan Rielly needs a better partner.
Dominic Moore should never play.
Gardiner and Carrick make great partners.
Marincin is better than Polak for sure. He might be better than any Leafs defenseman other than Gardiner and Rielly. Play him.
Get Komarov off the power play.
Never play Komarov as your most used forward.
Finally, Ron Hainsey isn’t now and never will be a quality top-pairing defenseman. Babcock needs to recognize that and act accordingly.
That’s It!
As we know, most New Years resolutions are made and quickly forgotten. Here is hoping the Toronto Maple Leafs can make a few of these come true at least. They are a team on the rise, and I hope this wasn’t overtly negative.
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It’s still hard to believe that after decades, the Toronto Maple Leafs finally have an elite, potentially all-time player on their roster. We’ve seen Gretzky, Lemieux, Lindros, Forsberg, Lidstrom, Crosby, Ovechkin and McDavid suit up for other teams, but the Leafs never had someone at that level – until now.
The crazy thing is that having Matthews blinds us to just how crazy it would be – under normal circumstances – to simultaneously have Nylander and Marner on the team at the same time.
This team is build for glory and so here is the final New Years resolution:
Win the Stanley Cup
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a ridiculously deep roster of forwards. They have a great goalie, great coach, several of the best players in the NHL, and a mobile defense. They’ve got the assets to improve any weaknesses and there is no reason they can’t win – this year!
They’re a better team than any team that went to the Final Four last year, and they’re only going to get better. It sucks that Johnny Bower has passed on, but the best way to remember him would be for the team to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since goalies wore masks.
Next: Top 10 Prospects Christmas Update
It would also be pretty great (and Disney-like) to win in their 100th year. I see no reason why it can’t happen.
Happy New Years