Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: This Season’s Most Pleasant Surprises
Welcome back, everyone. It’s time for another edition of Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable!
This week, the EIL Staff put their heads together in an attempt to answer one burning question:
Which Toronto Maple Leafs player has been the most pleasant surprise this season?
After hours upon hours of self-reflection, and a few breakdowns, the staff was able to formulate their own answers. So, without further adieu, let’s jump right in.
Mike Stephens
Despite the Leafs recent skid, they’ve given us a ton of pleasantries to take away from the first half of the season. In fact, I even wrote about them recently.
Although, in terms of the player who’s pleasantly surprised me, it would have to be none other than Andreas Borgman.
Now, I know that you’re thinking. A rookie third pairing defenceman? There’s a distinct reason I chose Borgman. Allow me to explain.
Unless you were an avid fan of the Swedish Elite League, chances are you had no idea who Borgman was when the Leafs signed him in the summer. I know I certainly didn’t. All I knew was that the 22-year-old towering Swede had been previously awarded the distinction of the SHL’s Rookie of the Year and that his scouting report was limited.
By all accounts, he was expected to hone his craft in the AHL, before challenging for a roster spot next season. We could not have been more wrong.
The biggest adjustment for any European player to make upon coming to North America is undoubtedly the smaller ice surface. The rinks are bigger across the pond, and for a defenceman, it completely alters your sense of gap control and positioning.
So far, Borgman’s adjustment has been velvety smooth.
Despite being paired with the absolute boat anchor known as Roman Polak, Borgman’s been able to thrive. He’s shown an ability to rush the puck that went unmentioned in any of his previous scouting reports. Not to mention, he’s been the distributor of some seriously deadly hits.
Borgman bomb gets deflected by Duchene and goes into the net.
— Flintor (@TheFlintor) January 11, 2018
2-1 pic.twitter.com/b137MXwMja
10 points in 43 games is perfectly respectable production for any first-year defenceman. Yet, it’s downright impressive for one who has not only been forced to adjust to the NHL game but learn his way around a completely altered playing surface.
Borgman’s poise and success have blown me away this year, and I am ecstatic to see what he can bring to the team in the years to come.
Wilbert Timmermans
Ouch, that’s a tough one to answer.
In a way, James van Riemsdyk has been the perfect veteran on the wing. Scoring important goals, on pace for a career-high 34, during crucial moments using his silky smooth velvet hands.
The question if the Leafs should resign him has become hot again, morphing into how the Leafs should re-sign him. To see how much the dialogue around his free agency has changed proves a lot.
But even though JvR’s play has been great, for me, Morgan Rielly is the most pleasant surprise so far.
He’s broken out this year, not only in points but as a mature leader on the ice as well. He’s on pace for 60 points, by far the highest of his career, and has the best possession stats of any Leafs defenceman. Furthermore, he is constantly drawing the most difficult opposing matchups on a nightly basis.
Dare I say, he’s rounding into that number one defenceman the Leafs have needed for so long.
Controversial it may be, but, honestly, his play has broken the debate surrounding the Leafs captaincy wide open. And boy, is he doing everything he can to convince me he’s worthy of it.
But, I feel it’s only fair to mention the following players as runner-ups: Frederik Andersen, Auston Matthews and Ron Hainsey.
Alec Downward
While a handful of the Toronto Maple Leafs stars have experienced their fair share of performance fluctuations this season, one stands above the rest. James Van Riemsdyk has remained steady this season, coming off of a career-high 2016-17 campaign.
The 28-year old has recorded 29 points in 45 games while flaunting a respectable 19 goal tally that has him tied for the team lead with Auston Matthews. Van Riemsdyk ranks first on the Leafs for shots on net at 129, while also boasting the third highest shooting percentage at 14.7%.
JVR continues to be deadly on the man advantage, through his net-front presence and offensive flair. He’s scored seven goals on the PP to lead the team in power-play goals while tying for the team lead in power-play points, alongside Morgan Rielly who has 12.
The fact that Van Riemsdyk is still managing to set a steady pace towards career-high numbers while being given a paltry amount of ice time is incredibly impressive. Through the first half of the season, JVR has only been recording a mere 14:40 ATOI (Average Time on Ice). That is shocking.
Through his ability to produce career-high numbers, both at even strength and on the man advantage, while being given limited minutes undoubtedly factors into JVR being a pleasant surprise for Toronto’s fan base.
Josh Tessler
If I had to choose one Toronto Maple Leaf as the most pleasant surprise of the year, I’d choose 38-year-old Patrick Marleau.
In the off-season, when the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Marleau, fans across the GTA and the globe thought that Lou Lamoriello was bringing in a veteran forward that knew how to score. In fact, the Toronto Maple Leafs ended up getting much more than that.
So far, Marleau has filled the role of the team leader both on and off the ice.
Off the ice, he’s taken Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews under his wing, to the point where the pair of youngsters are referred to as Marleau’s “Road Kids”. In the midst of a gruelling NHL schedule, he’s given them a second family to call their own.
Furthermore, Marleau’s invited them to his home for dinner and to play games with his kids. According to the San Jose Mercury News, he’s even made sure that Matthews and Marner aren’t glued to their mobile devices. What a responsible parent.
On the ice, he’s proven that his offensive power hasn’t gone anywhere, even at 38. If he keeps up his current pace, he might be able to string together 30 goals by season’s end. For a veteran player tasked with unfavourable linemates, that’s very impressive.
Hopefully, Marleau’s veteran leadership and offensive firepower help charge the Toronto Maple Leafs to their first Stanley Cup since 1967.
Alex Hobson
My pleasant surprise is none other than Ron Hainsey.
Patrick Marleau was expected to produce offensively, and he has. Plus, I feel like we all kind of expected Morgan Rielly to eventually break out like this, although his ascent into number one defenceman territory is pretty impressive.
But, seriously. Was anybody expecting Hainsey to do this?
I don’t know about you guys, but I was expecting Hainsey to be better than Hunwick, but that’s not saying much. And even then, I expected him to be just that.
At this point, Hainsey has blown those expectations away. He’s the Leafs’ most consistent penalty killer, playing a staggering amount shorthanded per game, and he’s even put up a respectable amount of points so far this year. For a 36-year-old veteran defenceman, that’s not half bad.
Is he a top two defenseman? No.
But, if we’re going by the most pleasant surprise from this season thus far, Hainsey easily takes the cake for me. No one thought he’d morph into arguably the most reliable defender on the team.
And yet, here we are.
James Tanner
The most pleasant surprise of the Toronto Maple Leafs season…I had to think about this for a while since nothing jumps out at me.
The team hasn’t looked as fast or as dangerous as they did last year. (Although, I can never tell if that’s true, or if I just think that because they’re not doing as well. The Leafs have also had to endure some pretty horrendous circumstances.) There’s the presence of Roman Polak, a month-long Freddie Andersen slump, sustained luck-driven droughts from Mitch Marner and William Nylander, a brutal stretch of games from by Nazem Kadri, some questionable coaching decisions by Mike Babcock, and injuries to both Auston Matthews and Nikita Zaitsev.
[Editorial Note: James, this is supposed to be a positive exercise!]
Given all that, the Toronto Maple Leafs ability to maintain their position as the third best team in the Atlantic Division is a big surprise.
Initially, I was surprised by Ron Hainsey. He’s settled down lately after a hot start. It doesn’t really matter how good or bad he plays from here on out, I will be surprised that a team can make the playoffs with Hainsey on their top pairing.
A lot of people will probably say Morgan Rielly but I’m not too surprised about him, I always thought he’d continue to develop. Rounding into a top-pair defenceman is what I think we all expected of him eventually.
Overall, I guess the biggest surprise to me is that there is no surprise. No one’s really broken out, no one’s really massively exceeded expectations and the team seems stuck in neutral.
(Editorial Note: see previous note)
Thanks for reading!
stats from naturalstattrick.com