Toronto Maple Leafs: EIL Content Roundup – December 29th

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.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Be Thankful for Game Seven Collapse

Boy, oh boy. This was not a popular opinion of Kyle’s when it was first published.

Game seven of 2013 will forever remain one of the most painful and long-lasting memories in the minds of Leafs fans. Personally, I look back upon this day as the one which broke my spirit in respect to sports. It jaded me at a young age, taught me to always lower my expectations and it forever left me sceptical of Leafs-related success.

Kyle does bring up an interesting point here, though. Game seven may indeed be a PTSD-inducing nightmare, but it (unintentionally) laid the groundwork for what is perhaps the greatest Leafs era of all time that we see today.

Give it a read to find out exactly how.

“The playoff birth in 2013 was simply due to the fact that they were in mid-season form and didn’t have time to choke and miss the playoffs like they normally did. But a playoff birth was a playoff birth, and it didn’t matter to brass and fans at the time.

If they had made it past the first round and gone any further that season, then they would still have that sense of false hope that the core they had was good enough to win. They likely wouldn’t have hired Brendan Shanahan at the end of the next season, likely wouldn’t have hired brass like Mike Babcock and Kyle Dubas, and in turn, likely would never have drafted William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and Auston Matthews. In fact, they more than likely would have remained in the same spot as they were in back in 2013. Instead, after suffering that brutal collapse against the Bruins, they ended up with a core featuring the three names I mentioned above as well as John Tavares, Morgan Rielly, and Frederik Andersen.”

Toronto Maple Leafs: Jake Gardiner Probably Gone

Look, I’m sure more than a few of you who are reading this have less-than-stellar opinions about Jake Gardiner. The guy doesn’t screw up often. But on the occasions when he does, he really screws up. 

So, I get it. You may not love Gardiner. But the one thing you simply cannot ignore are his numbers.

Coming off a 52-point season in 2017-18, Gardiner is once again on pace to top the 50-point plateau this year as well. He’s a phenomenal offensive defenceman, one incredibly adept at moving the puck and influencing possession whenever he steps foot on the ice. No matter how you slice it, losing Gardiner is going to hurt.

And it’s looking more and more likely that the Leafs will be forced to lose him as they enter a temporary cap crunch this summer.

As James writes in his piece from this week, Gardiner’s departure may be inevitable.

“Now, Gardiner is a 50 point defenseman whose defensive impacts are way better than people who just focus on giveaways they have trained themselves to notice and remember to want to admit or acknowledge, but the Leafs also happen to be absolutely stacked at his position.

Given their left-defence depth, the cost to retain Gardiner, and the fact that he’s approaching 30 makes his re-signing seem pretty unlikely.”

Toronto Maple Leafs: Patrick Marleau is the New Brooks Orpik

Remember when Brooks Orpik was a member of the Colorado Avalanche? I don’t, because he was only that on paper and for roughly a few weeks.

If the Leafs want to retain Patrick Marleau, they may need to go down a similar route as the Capitals. At least, that’s what Chris seems to think.

Marleau’s presence in the Leafs room is invaluable. He’s essentially a father figure to the team’s host of young players and he can still keep pace on the ice to boot. But his hefty $6.25 million cap hit isn’t doing the Leafs’ salary structure any favours.

How does Kyle Dubas solve this dilemma? Read Chris’ latest piece to find out.

“As Leafs fans finally found out, William Nylander signed on December 1 for an AAV just shy of $7M, which along with everyone else on the team, leaves Dubas with $23,224,301 (projected) to sign Matthews and Marner along with replacements any holes other Free Agents may leave.

One player who’s cap hit may be a little higher than his production is Patrick Marleau. He has one more year after this at $6.5M and that might make next year’s cap situation a little difficult for Dubas.

So what if Kyle Dubas was to pull off a situation similar to what Washington’s Brian MacLellan did with Orpik? Trade Marleau to a team with an excess of cap space along with another player for a draft pick and then re-signs him shortly after for a significantly lower amount.”

Thanks for reading!