The Toronto Maple Leafs are back, baby!
The regular season is finally upon us, and the Editor in Leaf staff have been working around the clock to bring you, our loyal readers, right into the middle of the action. Every angle has been covered, and every stone has been overturned.
With so many stories hitting the wall all at once, it’s easy to lose a few in the shuffle. So, enjoy this roundup of this week’s notable pieces.
A Feel Good List About the Toronto Maple Leafs
We tend to get pretty negative in Leafs Nation sometimes, which makes it all the more heartwarming when some positivity manages to creep its way in. Enter James, who decided to turn some frowns upside down this week by listing off all the things he loves about the Leafs so far.
Crazy, right? Talking about how good the Leafs are? I thought we were only allowed to talk about how they will get literally murdered by the salary cap and should trade William Nylander for Booster Juice rewards card.
Anyway, here’s some light reading.
“I don’t really care if Morgan Rielly plays good or bad, I just like him. I honestly think he’s one of the five best defensemen in the world, and that to put up the numbers he has while paired with Ron Hainsey is one of the greatest accomplishments in recent sports history. Seriously.
But Morgan Rielly is also my son’s favourite player. He is six now, but he is in his third season of the kind of intense hero worship only a young child can pull off. My favourite player used to be Mats Sundin and now it’s Morgan Rielly, and it probably always will be. I get more of a kick out of my son’s love of hockey than I ever got from hockey itself, and so anyway, I don’t know if I even have a point here, other than at my house, Morgan Rielly might as well be Jesus.
Here are the Tanner Family Power Rankings according to my son:
- Morgan Rielly
- Santa
- Dad”
Assistant Coach Joel Quenneville?
Look, this absolutely will not happen. Joel Quenneville is one of the best coaches in the entire NHL, if not THE best. He did not deserve to be fired. Canning Quenneville yesterday was essentially Stan Bowman’s last get-out-of-jail-free card, allowing him to skirt the blame one last time.
Still, it would be fun to fantasize about, no?
The Leafs have infinite resources, and if Quenneville is a bit jaded from all the Hawks drama and wants to coach a contender without the responsibility of being solely in charge, I’m sure MLSE would have no problem in throwing stacks of money at him.
Check out what Hunter had to say on the matter.
“Now the Toronto Maple Leafs have an opportunity to bring a Stanley Cup winning coach into their organization. Obviously, Babcock is the coach for the short and long-term future, but bringing Quenneville in as an assistant coach could have its benefits. It keeps him from becoming the head coach of another team, more importantly, a team in the Atlantic Division.
Teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators may be looking for a new coach by the end of the year and making sure they can’t get Quenneville would be a great way to prolong those teams’ rebuilds.
There is also history between Babcock and Quenneville when they were the head coach and assistant coach, respectively, of a Canada team that would go on to win the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. They have a history and have both been coaches for a similar amount of time.”
Despite a Lack of Goals, Nazem Kadri Off to Great Start
Nazem Kadri is the Leafs’ 3C. That’s insane.
The guy has back-to-back 30 goal seasons under his belt and yet Mike Babcock is able to deploy him in a bottom-six role. If you were to look up the definition of “embarrassment of riches”, this would be it.
Because of his new spot in the lower lineup, goals have been harder to come by for Kadri this year. Playing with Connor Brown most of the time will do that. But, lack of goals does not dictate a lack of performance. Kadri has had a phenomenal start to the year regardless of his output.
Jack explains why.
“Being “demoted” to the third line comes with new wingers. Pär Lindholm and Connor Brown have been his most used wingers, and that right there is the main reason his production has been down. It’s not that they’re bad players, but a centre’s production is based on whether or not his linemates score, and Kadri’s don’t.
Despite having a Corsi-For above 50% Kadri’s line hasn’t scored much, owing to the fact that his wingers aren’t offensively gifted and bad luck. The team is shooting under 7% when Kadri is on the ice, which is low. He has a PDO of .990 which indicates bad luck. He also has more defensive zone starts than offensive zone starts.
When you combine his linemates, unlucky shooting percentage, and his deployment, it’s understandable why his numbers are down, despite the fact he is playing great.”
Thanks for reading!