Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: Changing Opinions

Mike Stephens

There’s really only one answer for this, and it’s Curtis McElhinney.

Heading into the season, McElhinney terrified me. His style was sporadic, he left vast chasms of the net wide open, and just generally looked past his prime. And considering Frederik Andersen can’t play all 82 games, the Leafs glaring lack of a capable backup goalie could have been exposed.

Then, the Leafs acquired Calvin Pickard for peanuts, seemingly anointing him as CMac’s successor. Well, not so fast.

72 games later, and McElhinney’s .935 save percentage leads the entire NHL among goaltenders who’ve started at least 10 games. He’s been exactly what this team needs. A cool, calm goaltender who can step into any situation and be counted on not to lose the game.

It’s honestly getting to the point where, if Andersen misses time in the playoffs, I’m fine with McElhinney holding down the fort. Considering how he looked in October, I can’t believe I actually wrote that sentence.

Although, the numbers don’t lie. McElhinney proved us all wrong and deserves every accolade he’s been given.

Keep killin’ it, Curtis.

Lauren Kelly

I think the one opinion I had at the beginning of the season was that no matter what the circumstance (whether it be poor play or injuries), the Leafs weren’t taking Matt Martin out of the lineup.

Not unless he himself was injured, which was likely going to hurt the team in the long run. That was my belief heading into the season and both Martin and Mike Babcock proved me wrong.

Martin played well enough all season to secure himself a spot in the lineup, and there haven’t really been times at all this season that I’ve been questioning his play or whether or not he belongs in the lineup.

I’ve actually been really impressed with the way he’s played this season, especially in the small role he has – he only plays about 8 minutes a game, so he doesn’t have a huge opportunity to make an impact, but he’s definitely made the most of it.

He has 12 points in 49 games this season, already eclipsing his 9 points in 82 games last season in half as many games.

I think the most shocking thing is that Babcock actually didn’t play Martin at all in the month of February. He played against Colorado on January 22nd and didn’t return to the lineup until March 5th against Buffalo.

And though we’ll never know Babcock’s exact reasons for pulling Martin in exchange for Kasperi Kapanen, Josh Leivo, and Andreas Johnsson, Martin hasn’t done anything wrong this season aside from being caught up in the numbers game.

So, regardless of whether he still has a place with the Leafs for the remainder of his contract, Martin has definitely exceeded my expectations for him coming into this season.

Josh Tessler

At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t sure about Curtis McElhinney being a solid backup to Frederik Andersen.

I know that McElhinney was stellar in the second half of the season last year. He was outstanding in the matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins where he robbed Sidney Crosby to help ensure a playoff spot for the Leafs.

Personally, I just didn’t see him as a long-term fit in Toronto.

Last season, his GAA and SV% in 14 games in Toronto weren’t so great, with a 2.85 GAA and a .914 SV%. McElhinney completely turned his game around this season and has been stellar in net when Andersen has been hurt or needed a night off.

This season, McElhinney owns a 2.09 GAA and a .935 SV% in 16 games played. He has been absolutely incredible these last few games for the Leafs. Last night, notching his fourth shutout of the season and he’s only a backup!

Leafs Nation might give me some hate for being unsure of a backup net-minder, but anything can happen in the NHL.

Look at the Montreal Canadiens for example. In the past few years, the Canadiens have had a lot of difficulty in net. Carey Price has spent a ton of time on the sidelines due to injury. If the Canadiens had a solid backup or great goaltender prospect to lean on, they’d be better off.

This season they could really use a net-minder like McElhinney. Hopefully, McElhinney’s success continues in Toronto and shines in net when called upon.

Eduardo Razo

In the off-season, Toronto Maple Leafs management committed to Nikita Zaitsev and made him part of their young core, giving him a seven-year, $31.5M contract.

After only one season in the National Hockey League, the deal came under scrutiny.

Heading into this season, I firmly held an opinion that Zaitsev would put these critics to rest. With the season nearly over, the Russian’s season hasn’t gone well; which is why the tone, in my voice, has changed.

His health struggles and lack of production are a concern because, personally, signing someone to a contract of that length management sends a message that this player is apart of the future.  However, an at best second-pair defenseman on a seven-year term is causing me to second guess this deal.

Although, the Toronto has a lot of salary cap space, in the next two season they’ll need every cent.

They’ll have to pay Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner (I also believe they should go hard at Washington’s John Carlson in the summer) and having money tied up to someone like Zaitsev will come back to haunt them.

After a productive first season, there was a lot of optimism surrounding Zaitsev. Now, there are more questions than answers.

Alex Hobson

My answer probably isn’t as common, but the guy who my opinion has changed on the most is Curtis McElhinney.

(Editorial Note: Alex, your answer is incredibly common)

I wrote an article about McElhinney the other day, essentially pumping his tires and talking about how incredible he’s been as a backup goalie this season and how we shouldn’t take that for granted. But here’s one key fact that I didn’t mention in that article.

CMac was a waiver pickup.

We didn’t trade for him, meaning we didn’t give up any assets for him. Another team literally said “hey, we don’t want this guy. Someone wanna take him?” And the Maple Leafs did, seeing that their original backup plan in Jhonas Enroth wasn’t working.

But, let me prove my point further.

At the beginning of the season, I thought of CMac as a backup. Nothing less, nothing more. He had an okay season last year, performed just like any backup should have.

Well, that didn’t last long.

CMac has started 13 games this year and won 9 of them. Three of them were shutouts. THREE! CMac has eight career shutouts, with three of them coming from this year alone.

If that’s not enough, here’s another fun stat for you. Out of all goalies who have appeared in at least 15 games, CMac carries the highest save percentage, at a whopping .935. When you think of this Leafs team and all the success they’re having, you think of Auston Matthews. Of Mitch Marner. Of William Nylander.

But, nobody seems to think about the fact that we have the best damn backup goalie in the league and he’s currently having an outstanding season despite his age and track record as a backup goalie.

So, congratulations McElhinney. You have completely changed my perception of you as a goalie. I initially thought you were a standard journeyman of a netminder when really you’ve been the best of the backups this season.

I know all of Leafs nation is appreciative of it.

Carson Trask

The backup goalie position was a disaster to start last season. The Jhonas Enroth experiment lasted only 4 starts before he found himself placed on waivers.

On January 10th, 2017 the Leafs claimed Curtis McElhinney off waivers from the Columbus Blue Jackets. McElhinney became expendable when the Blue Jackets promoted the much younger Anton Forsberg.

At the time he was claimed McElhinney had provided more than adequate goaltending for the Blue Jackets posting a 924 save percentage. Even with that, this move didn’t bring much excitement to Leafs nation, who were expecting a trade to bring in someone with a better track record.

The concern I had was that Frederik Andersen had never played more than 54 games in a season. The Leafs needed someone reliable to give him nights off to ensure he would be fresh for a potential playoff run. McElhinney, who has a career .908 save percentage just wasn’t the player that gave off that confidence.

McElhinney would go on to make 14 appearances for the Leafs to wrap the 2016-17 season. His save percentage of 914 and a GAA of 2.85, didn’t do anything to ease Leaf fans concerns.

In a crucial game, McElhinney made the iconic image of the season when he made a sprawling pad save on Sidney Crosby, preserving the win and returning the Leafs to the postseason. This was a very cool moment, but with him set to be a free agent I didn’t expect, nor did I think the Leafs should bring him back.

It doesn’t always look pretty when he’s in net, but McElhinney has been outstanding this season. A .935 save percentage is something I don’t think that even the Leafs expected. His play this season has completely changed how I view his ability.

I now have zero concerns when he gets the call in net, he gives the Leafs a chance to win every time.

Wilbert Timmermans

If I take a look at the standings, talking Atlantic Division, I think the Leafs have matched my expectations.

Pointwise they are where I hope they would be by now. They’re racing steadily towards clinching a playoff berth. And, if I look at the standings overall, they’ve also exceeded my expectations. They’re ahead of teams who I deemed stronger at the start of the season.

Purely based on results, the Toronto Maple Leafs are going steady.

But, the comfortable position they are in right now is deceiving. The Leafs aren’t as good as the standings might show. Too often are they outplayed, outshot and outmatched by opponents. They have been lucky with the elite goaltending they have gotten from the tandem Frederik Andersen & Curtis McElhinney.

Whether it’s still youthfulness or a deeper problem, is debatable.

Fact is, even though they have a very talented and deep roster, they are overrun by inferior teams. They’re able to outplay and above all outskate any opponent, however, they always seem to have problems getting started in a game.

One thing they have definitely exceeded my expectations in is their ability to take and secure a lead. Where last year the Leafs suffered multiple trauma’s due to blown leads in the third, they have matured in that area.

They have learned how to secure a win.

James Tanner

One player that has changed my perception of him over the season is Tyler Bozak.

To be honest, I think some of my dislike of Bozak comes from him being force fed to the Leafs fan base as a #1 centre, and then for years being described by people who I am pretty sure just invent opinions out of thin air as a ‘defensive centre’…..not to mention the nonsense about his faceoff skills.

So, with those factors playing a part, coupled with my obsession with moving William Nylander to centre, I believe I was underrating Bozak as a reaction to his being overrated.

Bozak, however, is a very good, even an elite third line centre.

He doesn’t offer much two-way play, but with him and James van Riemsdyk hidden on the third line, he doesn’t need to. Bozak and JVR have given the Leafs an elite scoring combo that is hidden down in the lineup, making matchups a nightmare for opposing coaches. Furthermore, it gives the Leafs an edge over almost every team in the NHL.

While I wasn’t much of a fan, I have to say, I’ve come to appreciate what he offers and have changed my mind about him. I don’t think he’s going to be on the Leafs after this year, but I’ve also said that like for or five years in a row now!

Bozak’s consistent offensive production has made me change my mind about him.

Next: Marchment Signs ELC

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