Toronto Maple Leafs: Alternative Stretch Drive Plan
Let’s say all the dice fall in their favour, and the Toronto Maple Leafs clinch a playoff spot on Saturday. What do they do with the remaining seven games?
The chances of usurping Boston for second place in the Atlantic Division are slim at best. The Bruins hold a five-point lead on the Leafs with two games in hand.
So, with their playoff fates seemingly etched in stone, should this final stretch of the season continue along with business as usual? Or, should it warrant some experimentation?
I’d vote for the latter. If I were the Leafs, and I’m not, here’s what I would do until April 8th.
Promote Aaltonen
Heading into the playoffs, the centre position becomes arguably the most crucial one of all, aside from goaltending. Time and time again, lack of centre depth has sunk teams during a seven-game series.
We saw this last year when Nashville entered the Cup Final missing their top pivot, Ryan Johansen. This forced the overmatched Colton Sissons into top-line duty, a position he really wasn’t suited for.
For all intents and purposes, the Predators should have bested a banged up Penguins squad missing their best defenceman in Kris Letang.
Alas, as we all know, that didn’t happen. Pittsburgh’s centre depth of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Nick Bonino conjured matchup nightmares for the Preds, eventually extinguishing them in six games.
I bring this up for a reason. If the Leafs truly intend on embarking upon a deep playoff run, they’ll need to rely on their centre depth. Right now, they possess a potential contributor biding his time on the Marlies in Miro Aaltonen.
Aaltonen has put in a fantastic AHL season so far and likely would’ve influenced Toronto’s trade deadline plans had he not suffered a concussion in mid-February. Now recovered, there’s no better time than the present for Mike Babcock to find out what he has in the Finnish Man of Mystery™.
The Leafs future is set. Aaltonen’s injection would gift vets like Tyler Bozak and even Tomas Plekanec a night off or two, ensuring they enter the playoffs at full capacity.
And, were a Leafs centre to suffer a fate similar to Johansen’s, at least Babcock has the peace of mind in knowing whether Aaltonen can step in.
Promote Sparks
This train of thought applies to Garret Sparks as well.
The Penguins suffered injuries to both their goaltenders in each of their previous two Cup runs. In 2016, both Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury went down, forcing unheralded backup Jeff Zatkoff into the starters job for Game One of the first round.
In his lone game of injury relief, Zatkoff made 35 saves en route to a 5-2 victory over the Rangers, handing his team a 1-0 series leaf.
The Leafs could very well face a similar predicament.
Frederik Andersen has already missed an extended period with an injury this year, and Curtis McElhinney is 34 years old. It’s not outside the realm of possibility for one or even both to go down during the grind of a playoff run.
If called upon, it would likely be in the Leafs’ best interests for Sparks to have experienced game action prior to the playoffs.
Holding a .936 save percentage for the Marlies this season, he’s certainly earned a shot. Worst case, Sparks lays an egg, thus having precisely zero impact on the Leafs playoff picture. The best case, however, is Sparks impresses in his limited audition and confirms that yet another talented goaltender occupies the Leafs’ system.
The Leafs are playing with house money for the rest of the season. Why not see what you have in a prospect who has now accomplished practically everything possible at the level below?
Ride the Kids
Leo Komarov’s injury has since allowed Toronto’s brass an extended look at Swedish wunderkind Andreas Johnsson. To say he’s impressed since his mid-March promotion would be an understatement.
To combat Auston Matthews‘ absence, Babcock placed Johnsson on the Leafs’ second PP unit, where he thrived against the Habs. With a Leafs vs Bruins matchup practically guaranteed, why not apply this experiment to the rest of the kids?
Again, give vets like Bozak and especially the 38-year-old Patrick Marleau a night off. In return, hand their lineup spots to Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen. Both have shown to be valuable special teams and top-six contributors at the AHL level.
Using the schedule’s equivalent of garbage time to determine whether that skill translates to the NHL would be a wise endeavour. Especially considering injuries could inevitably force them into those same roles come playoff time.
On a related note, Nikita Zaitsev reportedly lost three pounds basically overnight from a bout with the flu. Last night, Jake Gardiner was slow to get up following a crushing hit in Nashville.
So, let Zaitsev regain his conditioning. And let Gardiner mend bumps and bruises by allowing Travis Dermott to anchor a PP or PK unit.
Heck, even both!
Prior to his call-up, Dermott was a force on both the man advantage and shorthanded for the Marlies. The ability is there, and there’s no harm in challenging him as he prepares to face the biggest test of his professional career.
Leivo
How many times have we seen an unheralded benchwarmer slide into game action and lead his team to victory? I mean, it’s a sports movie cliche for a reason. Rudy was based on a true story after all.
Folks, Josh Leivo can be Toronto’s Rudy.
Imagine this. Forced into the lineup following a devastating injury to, I dunno, Connor Brown (sorry Connor), Leivo is finally allowed to spread his wings and embarks on a legendary run, dragging his team with him. I can just hear it now.
Leivo! Leivo! Leivo!
While unlikely, the possibility of that fairytale coming true increases exponentially if Leivo’s allowed to gain the momentum which comes from extended playing time.
You could be Wayne Gretzky in his prime for all I care. It doesn’t change the fact that no athlete is physically able to fire on all cylinders after sitting out for the better part of a calendar year.
It just isn’t possible.
Rest your workhorses, experiment with Leivo’s deployment, and you could have a Cinderella Story on your hands.
What would you do? Thanks for reading!