Toronto Maple Leafs: EIL Content Roundup – December 16th

The Toronto Maple Leafs are back, baby!

The regular season is gradually reaching the winter break, 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.

The 2013-14 Toronto Maple Leafs: Where Are They Now?

Remember the 2013-14 Leafs? Perhaps the most depressing component of this team is that, after succumbing to Boston in the Game Seven From Hell™, they were actually supposed to be good.

Dave Nonis was at the helm and led the Leafs to their first playoff appearance since I was 8-year-old. Randy Carlyle, despite overwhelming evidence, was hailed as a marvellous defensive coach and worthy of the team’s roster being built around him.

Obviously, this was a bad team. Terrible, even. And in his latest piece, Alex examines where some of these puzzling pieces have ended up since.

“Dave Bolland

Bolland had just finished the shortened 2013 as a member of the Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks as their second line centre. The Toronto Maple Leafs would acquire his rights after that season for a couple of draft picks, and after an electric start with the team where he would put up 10 points in 15 games, he suffered a bad injury that kept him out for most of the season.

Bolland would eventually demand a contract worth $5.5 million a year, and after the Panthers signed him for that money for some reason, he would play two seasons there before getting injured once again. He isn’t playing anymore, but the Arizona Coyotes are currently paying the duration of his contract after he was traded there along with Lawson Crouse for another pair of draft picks.”

Should the Toronto Maple Leafs Pursue Wayne Simmonds?

Wayne Simmonds is one of those players who fans have speculated about coming to the Leafs for what feels like a decade.

Simmonds is from Toronto. Or, well, Scarborough, which is not Toronto but close enough. He plays the crash-bang style which caused countless fans to fall in love with Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark while also being able to chip in 20-or-so goals every year.

Case in point; he’s a baby boomer’s dream.

In his latest piece, James takes a look at whether the Leafs should take a stab at acquiring Simmonds and if he’d even be worth the cost.

“But is Simmonds a good fit?  I think it’s questionable.  For one, how much difference is one player playing maybe 15 minutes per night going to make, as it relates to overall team toughness and grit?  Is one power-forward going to suddenly make the Leafs that much harder to play against?  Especially if, as would be likely, he’s on the third line?

Plus, while he would add whatever his toughness is worth, he’d also detract from team speed, which is the Leafs strength.  The Leafs six best wingers: Nylander, Marner, Kapanen, Johnsson, Hyman and Marleau are all much faster than Simmonds.  Of those players, who would you take ice time away from to accommodate Simmonds?”

Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: The Right Next Steps

What move should the Leafs make now that William Nylander is back in the fold? That’s the question the EIL staff sought to answer this week in our latest roundtable.

The answers were relatively varied, ranging from some internal call-ups to a few more outlandish trades. One, however, stood out to me. And that’s Nick Jensen. Jensen is a right-handed defenceman, plays roughly 20 minutes a night and has logged more minutes on the PK for Detroit than Ron Hainsey and to better results.

Yet, somehow, Jensen likely won’t command much in terms of a raise on his next deal. He seems to be the perfect third pairing target for a Leafs team that needs to squeeze out every dollar they can.

Take a look.

“Out of all the forwards on the Leafs roster currently, Brown is by far their most replaceable player. He does have a decent stat line (3 goals, 6 assists, 9 points), but it’s a far cry from what he was capable of just a few short years ago. Given that he is on the 4th line in a position that the team has incredible organizational depth, it makes sense that he could be moved at some point.

We have already seen a winger in Josh Leivo find his way out due to an influx of players, so Brown seems like the next logical step. His value could net the Leafs a more sturdy third pairing defenseman to stabilize the team’s back end. Perhaps a move that would see someone like Nick Jensen go the other way could be done in the near future.

Should the Leafs make a trade like this and get some improvements defensively, it could go a long way in putting them over the top.”

Thanks for reading!