Toronto Maple Leafs: The Enemy’s Insight – French Baked

Wasn’t Saturday night fun? Watching the Toronto Maple Leafs curb stomp the thoroughly hilarious Canadiens will never get old.

For Habs fans, however, I’m sure it was far less of a pleasant experience. And speaking of Habs fans, A Winning Habit‘s Omar White has a few questions to ask me this week.

I’m sure he won’t be salty at all.

“After Saturday’s game, Mike Babcock said that Auston Matthews and Frederik Andersen would be returning “right away”. However, Monday morning it was revealed that Matthews wouldn’t be playing and Andersen is questionable. Is this a plan by the Leafs to rest them as much as they can before the playoffs?”

Honestly, I think Mike Babcock was so jacked up after Saturday’s win that he just started making bold claims out of nowhere. “Matthews and Freddie will be back. Gilmour’s coming out of retirement. Oh, and we also time travelled and got prime Gretzky too!”

At least one part of that is true, as Babcock confirmed Andersen will indeed start tonight in Tampa. Thus, bringing an end to Curtis McElhinney‘s miracle ride as Toronto’s greatest athlete.

I would’ve liked Freddie to get a few more days of rest, considering he’s still faced the highest number of shots in the NHL, even with the injury. Although, I see the logic behind it.

When playing such a high volume of games in such a short amount of time, momentum becomes your best friend. Giving Andersen the remaining 10 games allows him to regain that momentum with the added luxury of a fairly easy schedule.

Matthews, on the other hand, is a different story.

The cautious avenue the Leafs have taken regarding his return is exactly how a team should handle their franchise cornerstone. In no world should Auston Matthews enter the playoffs at anything less than 100%.

I don’t care if he thinks he’s at 100%. The Leafs employ a highly innovative team of sports science professionals to dictate situations exactly like this one. Until they give him a bill of health clean enough to eat off of, you wrap Matthews in bubble wrap and baby proof the press box.

Rushing Leo Komarov back from injury is certainly not ideal, but it’s also not a disaster. Worst case, he reaggravates his ailment and misses an extra week or two, giving us more time to fawn over Andreas Johnsson.

But, you DO NOT TAKE CHANCES WITH AUSTON MATTHEWS. Never not once ever. Let him heal.

“What will Andreas Johnsson’s future role with the Leafs be (if there is one out there)?”

Just to twist the knife, I’m going to leave this here.

Aside from his goal, the most impressive aspect regarding Johnsson’s debut was that he registered a whopping seven shots in just 13 minutes(!) of ice time. In his second career NHL game, he carved through the Habs D like a hot knife through butter.

Johnsson’s emergence, much like Travis Dermott‘s, makes the jobs of Brendan Shannahan and whoever the Leafs GM ends up being come July a lot easier.

With James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov all hitting the market, Johnsson not only eases that loss. As well, he saves Toronto from being forced into committing heavily to an ageing player who could conceivably cap strap them two or three years down the line.

*cough* JVR *cough*

While Johnsson won’t step into the lineup and immediately replace either of those players, his skillset injects a more versatile aspect to next year’s Leafs team.

JVR and Bozak are relatively one-dimensional. Other than on the power play and in the offensive zone, their contributions elsewhere are nonexistent. Neither player logs any minutes on the PK, and they’re arguably Toronto’s worst defensive forwards.

Johnsson, on the other hand, has two-way upside.

He’s an effective penalty killer while also functioning as an offensive threat. He’ll provide the Leafs with a top-six level of offence without sacrificing any defensive impact.

The future is as bright as his smile.

“The Leafs have gotten a lot of talent from the Toronto Marlies to come up and quickly contribute, is there anyone else down in the AHL who could play in the NHL right now?”

With the knowledge that Garret Sparks was sent down yesterday, he serves as the best answer to this question.

Much has been said lately about the thinning prospect talent on the Marlies, something which has baffled me. Of course, it’s thinning. All of their uber prospects are now with the big club!

For now, Andreas Borgman, Calle Rosen, Calvin Pickard and Sparks are the Marlies most likely to be impactful NHLers if called upon this season.

Borgman already was, being sent down with the specific intention of developing into a penalty killer, maximizing his potential. Rosen has emerged as one of the Marlies top defenceman, and, if Toronto’s left side wasn’t so crowded, would likely have earned another shot by now.

Pickard and Sparks have formed the AHL’s most formidable goaltending duo, with Sparks, in particular, looking absolutely dominant.

Looking further ahead, there is one name on this Marlies team who could come out of nowhere and turn some heads. That would be Mason Marchment, recipient of a freshly inked ELC.

I wrote about Marchment on the weekend, mentioning the strides he must take physically to become an NHLer. Aside from that, the talent is there.

In two years, he strikes me as a Connor Sheary type, someone who could come out of the blue and provide dirt cheap offensive playing alongside the franchise centre.

Pair Marchment with Auston Matthews in 2019-20 and it wouldn’t shock me to see him pot 20 goals, making peanuts in the process.

Bonus Question: “HOW DID IT FEEL TO WATCH TYLER BOZAK GET ROBBED BY CHARLIE LINDGREN? HOW DID IT FEEL? (We take the small victories here at A Winning Habit)”

First of all, Tyler Bozak would have likely missed that empty net anyway, regardless if Lindgren made it over. Bozak has turned whiffing on grade-A chances into an art form. What Lindgren did isn’t an accomplishment.

So, to appropriately articulate my response, I have included clips of the four goals Lindgren DID let in, including one to a guy playing his second NHL game, below.

Enjoy.

Next: Roundtable: Changing Opinions

Thanks for reading!