The Toronto Maple Leafs rarely used to surprise us.
As early as four years ago, an era forever to be known as the Dark Ages, this team was inherently predictable. If a coaching decision regarding the fourth line hinged upon either inserting an underrated skill player or a stagnant grinder, it was pretty clear that the Leafs would go with option B. When a free agent hit the market, whose resume of past success seemed obviously unsustainable – say, David Clarkson, for example – you could bet your bottom dollar on the Leafs locking him in for 7 years and regretting almost immediately.
These days, however, no one knows anything.
Sure, you can speculate all you want. Prophesize about signings, roster moves and coaching decisions. But, the guarantee of on-ice success aside, just about everything is firmly on the table.
This season has been no different.
So, this week, the EIL staff put their heads together to answer one simple question:
What is the one thing about this Leafs season that has surprised you?
I can sum up what has been the most shocking to me so far in two words; Frederik Gauthier.
Look. I have worked the Marlies beat for the last year and a half, watched every single one of Gauthier’s games at the AHL level, and nothing about his performance ever suggested that he’d be a regular NHLer. Gauthier is an offensive black hole. Never, not once, has he cracked the 20-point mark in any of his 4 professional seasons. And while Gauthier is a fantastic defensive centre when up against AHL competition, his footspeed was even lacking there.
So, you can forgive me for being thoroughly shocked when Gauthier managed to etch himself a regular spot on Mike Babcock’s lineup card, even going so far as to suit up for one game while the infinitely more talented Andreas Johnsson watched from the press box.
If you had told me that, during the regular season, Johnsson would be a healthy scratch over Gauthier, I think I would have challenged you to a fist fight.
And yet, what has perhaps surprised me most of all is the fact that Gauthier has largely been fine in the 8 minutes of ice he’s given per night. He’s not going to light up the stat sheet or shut down the opponent’s top competition. But he is a relatively solid, if inoffensive fourth line option, at least until Auston Matthews and William Nylander come back.
That, my friends, is not something I was expecting to say 25 games in.