Toronto Maple Leafs: The Marlies Should Not Be This Bad

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As you’ve likely already read about either here or here or here or here, the Toronto Marlies are having a rough go of it at the moment.

This was not supposed to happen.

Racing out to an underwhelming record of 10-10-3-2 across the season’s initial 25 games is a jarring reality check for the former AHL giant, dropping the Marlies down to 6th in the North Division standings and burying them beneath a duo of inferior opponents in the Belleville Senators and Utica Comets.

To make matters worse, Wednesday night brought forth an enticing matchup against the first-place Syracuse Crunch and presented an opportunity for the Marlies to make a dent in the divisional standings. That did not happen. Not only did they fail to recoup any lost ground, but the Marlies’ 8-1 thrashing at the hands of the Crunch signified a new low of the otherwise sterling Sheldon Keefe era.

Yet, it’s still crystal clear that these Marlies – offensively, at least – do not belong there.

They have the tools.

With a mix of budding young stars, established American League vets and formerly NHL calibre talent, their roster is a bonafide embarrassment of riches by typical AHL standards and should, in theory, bear the requisite depth to withstand a number of key departures over the summer.

Drop off was always to be expected, of course. Just not like this.

The most puzzling component of all, perhaps, is that the Marlies only continue to flounder in spite of how proactive their management group has been. Across his prior four years at the helm, Kyle Dubas was never thought to be someone even remotely content with the concept of losing and his successor, Laurence Gilman, is seemingly cut from same cloth.

This overriding sense of urgency from the Dubas Era officially translated into this one. And on the occasions when an on-ice deficiency presents itself, a corresponding roster move from Gilman & Co. is not long to follow.

It’s just how they operate. Identify the issue and then take the necessary steps to fix it.

When Timothy Liljegren‘s newfound uptick in responsibility caused an early season imbalance in the Marlies’ right side, Gilman quickly sought out Frank Corrado, a proven AHL vet, for help. And help he did.

Despite being just 10 months removed from a devastating ACL tear and undergoing a recovery process which withheld him from attending a training camp, Corrado has nevertheless slid seamlessly into the Marlies’ top-6 and injected an often off-kilter blueline with a relatively steadying presence.

It took less than 20 games this season for the Toronto Maple Leafs organization to realize their future no longer included Andrew Nielsen, something which became increasingly apparent over the past 12 months, and in order to maximize all facets of the roster, promptly dealt him to Calgary in return for a former first-rounder and AHL contributor in Morgan Klimchuk.

Which isn’t to suggest that management acts solely in response. In fact, a number of the Gilman era’s recent moves have been astutely driven by foresight – done to make a powerful group that much more.

As news of Sam Gagner having cleared waivers broke in early October, Gilman then played a hand in orchestrating the deal which saw Canucks management loan Gagner to the Marlies in an effort to spare him from moving his young family to Utica, New York and instead allowing him to be close to their home in the Oakville region.

Not only has Gagner flourished in 19 games as a Marlie to the tune of 18 points, but the team’s bevvy of impressionable prospects are clearly benefiting from their time spent alongside a bonafide NHLer.

Gilman’s aggressive tinkering then found its way to the Marlies’ net.

With waivers unexpectedly thrusting Kasimir Kaskisuo into the starter’s role just days before the season began, Jeff Glass and his extensive resume of stability at the professional ranks were brought in to help shoulder the load. In theory, all signs pointed to Glass as the perfect stopgap.

Having spent 8 prior years in the KHL, his save percentage pointed south of .910 only once in the years he logged a minimum of 20 starts and, upon returning to the AHL in 2016-17, he managed to duplicate that success to some degree. Glass even drew in for 15 NHL games in late last season for the destitute Chicago Blackhawks and impressively, given the circumstances, flirted with the .900 Mendoza line.

Perhaps the Marlies should have sought out someone with a higher ceiling. Perhaps a younger option should have been targeted. But Glass’ pedigree as a steady, if unspectacular net presence appeared to be exactly what the Marlies needed.

Of course, steadiness is not what they got.

Glass’ .849 save percentage, 3-4-1 record and status as a healthy scratch for 8 of his team’s last 10 games eventually precipitated his trade on Tuesday night, shipped out to the San Diego Gulls for future considerations.

Some moves work. Some moves don’t. Glass clearly fell into the latter.

But even with the Glass experiment chalked up as a failure, it still doesn’t change that the Marlies entered the 2018-19 season with what a consensus saw as a playoff calibre roster. And when it soon became apparent that that was not the case, management then acted accordingly – exploring all avenues at their disposal to restore balance and with remarkable urgency.

For this collection of players to walk into their own building, against a divisional rival, and put forth one of the worst efforts in franchise history just does not make sense. Not with their appearance on paper.

This is a team that, prior to Wednesday night, sat tied with the Charlotte Checkers for first in AHL goals for with 91. And of those league-best 91 goals, a whopping 66 have come at even strength – a mark which lands the Marlies atop the AHL as well. Not to mention, after their 7-2 victory over the Manitoba Moose on Friday night at the season’s 26-game mark, 12 members of the Marlies’ 28-man roster carry double-digit point totals and another 12 are currently producing at over a 0.6 point-per-game pace.

That, in the hockey world, is what they call depth. The kind of which is rarely seen at this level.

The Marlies’ statistical dominance is not exclusive to the forwards, either. Calle Rosen is one of those aforementioned 12 names and sits third in team scoring with 21 points in 26 games, putting him fourth at his position league-wide.

Rasmus Sandin – who is 18-years-old, unable to legally buy a drink in Canada and missed the first 9 games of the season with a thumb injury – leads all Marlies defencemen in goals with 5 and, through 19 games, is scoring at a point-per-game pace of 0.53. To put that in perspective, Timothy Liljegren‘s production from his phenomenal rookie campaign one year prior, when he was the same age as Sandin, came about at a 0.39 clip.

Liljegren, by the way, was in the midst of rocking a 0.42 this season while logging top pair minutes against the opposition’s best on a nightly basis before a high ankle sprain in late November sidelined him ever since.

Case in point; the Marlies are not a bad team. Not in the slightest.

Circumstances, particularly those in hockey, often change with little warning and at a blistering pace.

The Marlies will almost certainly not endure their continually unprecedented bad stretch of goaltending for another 50 games. Having never put forth a save percentage below .906 at the AHL level, Kasimir Kaskisuo‘s current mark of .857, barring the possibility of a complete meltdown, will assuredly rise. It has to. And the Marlies’ recent influx of proven talent, who each bear the signs of a rocky adjustment to new surroundings, are all a good bet to conquer the learning curve and contribute in the months to come.

All signs point to a resurgence. And in the event one fails to come, you can at least rest easy knowing that management will do something out it.

Thanks for reading!

All stats courtesy of theahl.com