Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: Changing Opinions

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.