Toronto Maple Leafs Are Very Weak on the Wing

The Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping to have a high-powered offense to make up for their lack of depth on the backend.

The problem is that after Mitch Marner, the Toronto Maple Leafs wingers are not very good, especially without William Nylander in the fold.  T Sure, there is some hope that the Josh Leivo, Tyler Ennis, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnson all breakout, but that is unlikely.  Maybe one or two will prove to be fine, but it’s still a problem because even with the full signed and healthy roster, the Leafs only two top six wingers on their roster.

Everyone else is either a mystery, a project, a rookie/sophomore or a hope.

The Leafs are particularly weak on the left side.

As constructed, the current team is problematic and they are going to need some finishers to go with their excellent centre depth. Right now it doesn’t look they have them.

Top Two Lines

Let’s start with the top line.  It appears that will consist of Matthews centering Tyler Ennis and Patrick Marleau.

For a first line on a team that hopes to win the cup, this isn’t very good.

Patrick Marleau , who does not provide much in the way of defense, scored 27 goals last year, but that is misleading.  At 5v5 last year, Marleau produced at the minimum threshold for a second line winger.  If you figure at least some age related decline, he is, at best, a third line winger.

So having him on the top line is problematic.  Then there is Ennis. I’m not too worried about him because Nylander will be back soon, but needless to say these are not the kind of wingers you want to give your franchise player.  But even with Nylander, an upgraded left winger is necessary.

Auston Matthews is amazing, but asking him to make first liners out of Tyler Ennis and Patrick Marleau is pretty much the opposite of putting him in a position to succeed.

The second line is fine, but Hyman can’t finish.  If the Leafs had a real top line left winger on their team, I’d let Hyman slide, but the Marleau/Hyman combo is easily the worst top-six left wing situation  among teams who can be considered contenders.

The Leafs need to upgrade on the left side and need at least one high-end left winger.

Bottom Two Lines

I am a big Josh Leivo fan and if he could play his way to the top of the depth chart on left wing, it’d be an amazing development for the Leafs.  I have no problem with him slotting in with Kadri on the third line.

As for Connor Brown, he scored 20 as a rookie, but I’m thinking that was the peak of his production.  He could be a good player, but with only two out of four possible top line wingers (assuming Nylander signs) it only exasperates any lower line weaknesses. Ideally at least one of your wingers on the third line can be a lock for 20 and hope for 30.  You can’t say that about Brown.

The fourth line, however, is awesome.  I fully applaud the move towards a skilled fourth line, but given the players above Johnsson and Kapanen, its hard to see this lasting very long.  Though they are on the fourth line now, it’s easy to see them advancing to being the third and fourth best wingers on the team by the end of the season.  This is why its not that big of a deal that the top of the roster’s wingers are so currently weak, but as I said already, banking on improvement from every one of your question marks is foolish and  unrealistic.

Since you can’t guarantee anything, and since the Leafs are in win now mode, it seems a lot to assume two fourth liners are going to take such big steps.  If the top of the roster was so loaded that this HAD to be the fourth line, then look out because that would be crazy.  But with Ennis and Marleau on your first line, it kind of takes away from what would otherwise be an unreal fourth line combo.

Even with Nylander in the fold, I’d be much more confident in the Toronto Maple Leafs if so much of their wing depth wasn’t based on potential.

As of right now, three of the Leafs “Top Six” are Ennis, Hyman and Marleau.

I don’t think that is very good.  In fact, I know that it’s terrible and among the worst out of all competitive teams.

In an ideal world, the Toronto Maple Leafs would sign Nylander, add a top flight left winger, and Josh Leivo or Kasperi Kapanen would steal a top-six role.  Then you could have some nice competition between either Kapanen and Leivo, plus Marleau, Brown, Ennis, Johnsson and Hyman for the bottom four slots.

As it sits, the Leafs wing depth is OK for the bottom of the roster, but terrible at the top.  Outside of Nylander and Marner, the Toronto Maple Leafs currently do not have a 100% guaranteed to be good top nine winger.