Toronto Maple Leafs: Marlies are Calder Cup Champions

Do me a favour. Never, under any circumstances, worry yourself about anything regarding the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

For an organization, nay, an entire city most synonymous with stinging of defeat, the atmosphere inside Ricoh Coliseum prior to puck drop emitted a feverish anxiety. And who could blame them?

Toronto is a fanbase comprised entirely of Charlie Browns. Fans who, for over a century, have run at the football without abandon time after time, only to see Lucy snatch it from their grasp at the last second.

Not this time. No, on Thursday night, Charlie Brown finally kicked that damn football.

Champions

The Toronto Marlies are Calder Cup Champions.

What a sentence that is. To culminate a rollercoaster year, this title now serves as the emphatic punctuation upon one of the most successful seasons in AHL history.

History will remember the 2017-18 Marlies as a team of stars. The group responsible for birthing future stalwart Leafs in Travis Dermott and Andreas Johnsson. But, it goes much deeper than that.

Within a sport whose very essence seeks to snuff out perfection, these Marlies declined to relent. And they were perfect.

Were you to spend the next century on this earth, you’ll struggle to find a team as meticulously built for championship glory as this one. A team so unafraid of dragging hockey into a new era, aided by a roster entirely the brainchild of arguably the sport’s brightest young mind.

Forwards

It begins up front, with a forward group as deep as they come.

A group in which each member, regardless of draft position, pedigree, or tax bracket, knows his specific role and executes it to a tee. Together, they operate as a complex organism. Lines one through four accomplishing different but equally crucial objectives.

Objectives which, placed in contrast with each other, craft fluidly cohesive offensive attack.

Rarely will you see an AHL team deploy such a diverse bevvy of both veterans and borderline teenagers. Especially to this degree of overwhelming success.

Freshmen such as Jeremy Bracco, Adam Brooks and Mason Marchment proved equally as vital to where their team is today as greybeards Colin Greening, Ben Smith and Chris Mueller.

On the ice, their chemistry defied expectation. Off the ice, you could see why.

The top line – comprised of Johnsson, Miro Aaltonen, and Carl Grunstrom – serve as the drivers of this bus. Through the use of aggressive zone entries, the trio relentlessly forces the play directly at their opponents, daring them to counter.

It wasn’t always easy.

In fact, games one through six saw Texas appear to have solved their puzzle. The line’s offensive explosion from game four aside, the Stars managed to hold them to a collective total of 3 points in the initial four games of the series.

Then, like only the game’s very best can do, the trio climbed atop hockey’s biggest stage and rose to the occasion.

Johnsson, as he’s wont to do, was the lightning. From the moment puck first grazed ice, there was simply no stopping him. On Thursday, the Stars committed the cardinal sin of giving Johnsson an inch. He proceeded to traverse the globe.

Johnsson’s tenacity on the puck served as the direct cause for the game’s two most crucial goals.

Half a decade removed from freefalling to his draft’s 7^th round, the 23-year-old firmly put his stamp upon the organization that took him in. Standing proudly before nearly 9,000 screaming fans, with confetti littered around him, Johnsson accepted the Jack Butterfield Award for postseason MVP.

“I can’t describe it,” Johnsson told reporters, stumbling over his words in sheer delight.

“It’s awesome”

Defence

The blueline sees the Marlies truly elevate themselves from their peers.

In a world of “safe players”, Toronto’s defence opts to flirt with danger instead. No member of their D corps can be endowed with the mantra of safe. Rather, the Marlies activate their D, imploring them to engage the play at a pace nearly comparable to their forwards.

It worked.

This is a blueline assembled from a myriad of assets, each with their own story.

There’s Martin Marincin, the maligned NHLer who grappled with pre-season demotion. And yet, it was through said demotion where his true abilities not only were refined, but encouraged.

Identifying Marincin’s hidden ability to produce offence and prevent zone entries, the coaching staff equipped him with the equal amounts of ice time and confidence necessary to emphasize what made him effective.

All for the greater benefit of the team.

Calle Rosen falls in a similar boat. Sent down four games into the season, the 24-year-old came along slowly before turning super saiyan at exactly the moment when his team needed it the most.

An afterthought at season’s end, Rosen could very likely push for an NHL job come September.

Now, it wouldn’t be a Kyle Dubas team without Justin Holl.

Four years ago, the undrafted product from U of M toiled away in the ECHL before Dubas inevitably laid eyes on him. Today, he’s an undeniable lynchpin of his team, a Calder Cup Champion, and better poised than ever to make the big league leap.

Who could forget Timothy Liljegren, the AHL’s youngest defenceman via a 16-month chasm logging heavy minutes for the league’s deepest talent pool? Or Vincent LoVerde, whose championship pedigree proved invaluable to the Marlies success?

And then, Dermott. The straw who stirs the drink.

Battling an injury he suffered in game five, Dermott sat out the series’ concluding game. It was a decision he made himself, which tore him apart. In an act of pure unselfishness, Dermott recused himself from his career’s biggest game, knowing that his ailment would only prove detrimental to the success of his team’s.

Fellow reporter Gord Brown and I managed to pull Dermott aside post-game, asking him what he planned to do when he entered the dressing room.

“Kiss every single guy on the team right on the mouth,” he replied.

“That’s it” 

Management

Much has been written about Dubas’ expertise in assembling this eventual champion. Although, not enough can be said about Sheldon Keefe, the man he brought in to guide it.

Keefe cares not for hockey’s preconceived notions.

Whereas coaches generally bestow their veterans with ice time to shelter the pups, Keefe threw that sentiment out the window. Holding the belief that if his players are good enough they can handle an increased role, he taught his rookies to swim by launching them directly into the deep end.

And while the results were at first gradual, they inevitably paid off.

Brooks began the year mired in offensive failure. It was Keefe gifting him a pair of games on the top line that turned him into an impact centre. Trevor Moore entered the year on the roster’s bubble. Keefe emphasized his skating and shiftiness, culminating in his arrival as an unstoppable postseason force.

The list goes on.

Still, it was Keefe’s trust in Garret Sparks which proved to be his most lucrative investment.

The pair had clashed years prior, formulating doubt regarding the latter’s future within the organization. This year, Keefe took a different approach, installing Sparks as his undisputed number one and allowing his goaltender the opportunity to accumulate momentum and confidence befitting of a future NHLer.

Sparks was awarded the Baz Bastien Award, the AHL’s Vezina.

Every risk Keefe made paid off. And, when that happens, you wonder if they were ever risks to begin with. Right now, they certainly don’t appear to be.

In the final year of his contract, game seven may have served as Keefe’s final appearance behind the Marlies’ bench. If that’s the case, countless players of whom have moved through this organization under his tutelage will be forever in his debt.

Thank You

On a personal note, I just want to extend a hearty thank you to all who have followed my Marlies coverage this season.

It was, without a doubt, the most incredible experience of my 22 years on this earth. And it simply would not have been possible without all of you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Now go bask in the glow of victory.

Next: Top 10 Prospects

Thanks for reading!