Toronto Maple Leafs: The Enemy’s Insight – Injury Scare

The Toronto Maple Leafs are pretty good, wouldn’t you say?

Such a reality is a tough pill to swallow for rival fan bases. Particularly, Montreal has had an especially hard time accepting their diminished seat at the dinner table.

A Winning Habit‘s Omar White is not immune to this. So, let’s see what questions regarding Canada’s most dominant team he wants to ask me this week.

Don’t worry, Omar. Marc Bergevin will steer you out of this, right?

“Mike Babcock confirmed Monday that was nothing came out broke in Travis Dermott’s scans after what happened on Saturday’s game. How scared were after seeing Dermott leave the ice, and do you think he will be ready for the playoffs?”

Any injury to Travis Dermott is an injury to myself. It’s safe to say he’s currently Toronto’s favourite son and were anything to happen to him, it would trigger Defcon Five.

In all seriousness, losing Dermott for the playoffs would have been devastating. Since January 24th, the day Mike Babcock finally came to his senses and started icing his best lineup, the Leafs have gone 22-7-2.

Dermott is a huge factor behind that success.

His unexpected emergence was exactly what Toronto’s blueline needed. Dermott injected copious amounts of his speed and skill into a third pairing that was barely staying above water. More importantly, he prevented the Leafs brass from forcing themselves into shortsighted moves to upgrade their blueline.

Can you imagine if they’d given the Canucks a second rounder for the human turnover known as Erik Gudbranson? Yes, that was an actual possibility.

A year ago, Martin Marincin was logging significant playoff minutes on the Leafs left side. This year, he’s replaced by Dermott. That’s an unquantifiable upgrade, one capable of swaying a series in the right direction.

Now, if Dermott’s foot did break, Andreas Borgman is the likely replacement.

Yes, Borgman is talented. In fact, I believe he holds a future within this very organization. He’s just not ready yet. The 22-year-old was sent to the Marlies for one explicit purpose; become a penalty killer.

He’s making strides there, that’s for certain. Although, he hasn’t shown the game-to-game consistency befitting of an NHL promotion. Throwing him into the playoffs without a paddle wouldn’t end well.

Now, Dermott has roughly two weeks to rest his foot before the playoffs begin.

The Leafs dodged a massive bullet on Saturday night. The last thing they should do is tempt fate and rush their prized defenceman back.

“Seeing as how the Boston Bruins won’t stop winning if the playoffs started now, the Leafs would be taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. How do you feel about that?”

Honestly, I’m cool with it. I’d even go so far as to say I’d prefer Tampa over Boston.

Look, going up against Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman in a seven-game series is no one’s idea of fun. Although, the Lightning have been playing their worst hockey as of late, and I think they’re the more vulnerable option of the two.

Stamkos, by the way, exited Sunday’s game against the Predators with an undisclosed injury and didn’t return. While it’s not expected to be a serious ailment, he’s clearly not at 100%.

You know who is at 100%? Every Leafs centre.

Nazem Kadri will likely matchup against the top line. And you better believe the last thing an injured Stamkos wants to do is take jab after jab from Kadri for two weeks straight.

Plus, what doesn’t get enough attention in these discussions is the idea of distraction.

As much as I’d love to get sweet, sweet revenge on Boston for making cry in 2013, I really don’t want to hear about it every single night. There’s no doubting that dead horse of a narrative will be beaten until it becomes tasty jerky. And, if the Leafs lose, we’re in for yet another summer of “Toronto unable to exercise their Bean Town demons” think pieces.

Yeah, I’ll pass.

So, if Babcock uses common sense and ices a fourth line of Kasperi Kapanen – Tomas Plekanec – Andreas Johnsson, the Leafs can go toe-to-toe with any line Tampa throws out there.

Bring it on.

“Mitch Marner’s production in the second half of the season reminds me of Evgeni Malkin’s Hart Trophy victory when Sidney Crosby was down. Is this just the beginning for him and what can he do to further take his game to another level?”

Mitch Marner is 20-years-old. When was the last time you heard of an athlete peaking at 20? No, the sky’s the limit for young Mitch.

How high he flies is up to him.

The combination of a stabilizing shooting percentage and a departure from his regular linemates of Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk kickstarted the Marnaissance. No longer the sole catalyst of his line’s production, Marner was allowed to freely roam the ice, leaving destruction in his wake.

It’s no coincidence Marner immediately began scoring at a 50-goal pace the second him and Kadri united.

At Christmas, he had but two goals to his name. Four months later, Marner will finish the season with at least 22, all but certain to crack 70 points for the first time in his young career.

Once JVR and Bozak move on this summer (they likely will), the formation of a Marner – Auston Matthews power play unit becomes a real possibility. Statistically, that will adequately pad each of their year-end totals.

Over the last few months, Marner has evolved from “speedy offensive asset” into “integral star of his team”. If he continues this torrid pace into the playoffs, I pity the team tasked with containing him.

Next: Marlies Defence Report Cards

Thanks for reading!