Toronto Maple Leafs: The Future for Rasmus Sandin is Clear

The Toronto Maple Leafs are days away from forfeiting their title of the only training camp in town.

The Toronto Marlies have begun preparations for the opening of their camp next week, as players are expected to report on Monday for medicals before ultimately opening themselves up to the media on Tuesday.

With training camp comes decisions, and with decisions come speculation. And there happens to be plenty of speculation.

Rasmus Sandin

The unrelenting monotony of William Nylander‘s contract extension has allowed a collection of team-centric narratives to slip by under the radar. Specifically, one of relative importance seems to have been lost amidst the continuous hot takes which blanket camp.

Three members of the Leafs’ 2018 draft class – blueliners Sean Durzi, Mac Hollowell, and Rasmus Sandin – have yet to solidify their landing spots for the season to come, with the latter, Sandin, the sole one of the bunch to have logged preseason minutes. This is a relatively unique situation for Kyle Dubas to grapple with. These are each talented, albeit raw, defencemen holding eligibility to spend their 2018-19 campaigns in the AHL.

Only, even when operating in the AHL’s landscape of unlimited roster capacity, only 6 starting spots are there to go around. Where do all the chips fall?

It seems we’re quickly gaining a clearer picture.

If the preseason showcase – and keep in mind, it’s been a limited one – has taught us anything, it’s that Sandin currently sits much further along in his developmental curve than anticipated.

Facing competition at the very least resembling that of NHL-calibre, the young Swede has looked right at home, his play earning praise from fans and coaching staff alike. Barring a cataclysmic drop off in game three, the kid looks pro-ready.

Head Start

The book on Sandin from day one has consistently centred around his innate level of decision making and instincts, with scouts deeming them as the more refined of his age group. Not the most overtly skilled player in his draft class, Sandin instead utilizes a heightened hockey I.Q. to correctly read plays under pressure and craft quick exits from otherwise untenable situations while declining to forfeit possession.

This, in its entirety, has been on full display throughout each of his preseason tilts, and while there was always little doubt over whether Sandin could one day keep up with the pace of the professional game, few expected him to do it so soon and at such a high level.

A return to junior has now been swept off the table, leaving two options for Sandin in its wake; either return to the SHL and honour his contract with Rogle, or continue within the Leafs organization and join the Marlies.

In a perfect world, Sandin opts for the latter.

Having made his readiness for the pro ranks abundantly clear, Sandin has not only put a definitive stamp on his first NHL training camp, he’s also managed to leapfrog a number of Toronto’s internal options in the process as well.

Is this more indicative of some bubble guys failing to make a noticeable impact for themselves to this point? That very well may be the case.

Nevertheless, a clear-cut reason, logical or not, exists behind every decision that stems from the mind of Mike Babcock, and the route he’s seemingly chosen here is to staple his team’s most recent first rounder to Timothy Liljegren.

The early results have been promising.

Sure, Liljegren and Sandin each demonstrate their respective growing pains, namely in the realm of defensive zone puck security, however, the two also managed to craft some impressive chemistry with one another in spite of their limited shared service time and have emerged as one of the Leafs’ most effective defence pairings versus both Ottawa and Buffalo, if not the most effective.

They can clearly excel up against AHL opposition in the preseason. Why wouldn’t they be able to do what amounts to the exact same thing on the Marlies?

Especially when considering the perks of staying local.

Sandin is practically assured to benefit from a prolonged exposure to the organization’s cutting-edge development staff, much in the same way Liljegren did the year prior. If you recall, Liljegren joined the Marlies 12 months ago saddled with the baggage of a nasty bout with mono and putrid rookie tournament showing. Immediately beginning his work with the dev team, each day brought forth another step forward before, soon enough, Liljegren established himself as a pivotal member of the deepest top-six defence group in the league.

This is a track record with tangible results.

Jumping to the Marlies this season would essentially grant Sandin’s NHL career a head start, allowing him early access to the various intricacies of the Leafs’ systems, while setting up shop mere minutes down Lakeshore from the offices of his parent club.

Not to mention, the personal benefits as well. Case closed, right?

Ripple Effect

Well, this is not the cut and dry path it appears to be. Decisions of this nature rarely are.

If committed to the Marlies for this season, Sandin will certainly need to log meaningful minutes for his presence at the level to actually matter. And at this moment, a back-end log-jam prevents him from doing that.

His arrival likely dictates someone else’s departure, which creates a whole other process in of itself.

Sandin is a left shot, a notable factoid when considering that the Marlies house 6 different LHD options who could each theoretically roam their blueline for various stretches of 2018-19.  Unless Sheldon Keefe feels comfortable with sitting a regular in favour of Sandin, and I highly doubt that he will, one of them has to go.

Do they cut bait on a veteran like Martin Marincin, waiving him before the regular season in the hope he’s claimed? Or do they pull the plug on a stagnant prospect like Andrew Neilsen, capitalizing on his rapidly fading status as a recent third-round pick via shopping him to teams scrounging for a reclamation project?

Regardless of which method ultimately wins out, both outcomes bear an immediate impact on the organization’s bottom line, depleting the Leafs’ collection of high-floor depth at their most important positional group on the assumption that Sandin’s ceiling eventually rests even higher.

All signs point to this being a worthwhile gamble, but it’s a gamble nonetheless.

Thanks for reading!