The Toronto Maple Leafs are back from the New Year, baby!
The regular season is now firmly out of 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: Five Potential Trade Targets
It’s never too early to talk trades. It’s the lifeblood of hockey, after all. And with the trade deadline now a little over a month away, there’s no better time than the present to break down who could be wearing blue and white once February 25th comes and goes.
Not to mention, the Leafs are currently in the midst of a horrific slump, having dropped 7 of their last 10 games to mostly inferior opponents while edging closer and closer to the precipice of a wild card spot.
Changes need to be made. Something, regardless of what it ultimately turns out to be, is not working for the Leafs right now and if they intend on actually reaching their full potential and securing home-ice advantage for the playoffs, Kyle Dubas needs to act, and act fast.
In his piece from this week, Matthew dives into what exactly Dubas can do.
“Philadelphia’s Radko Gudas is a defenceman I personally wouldn’t mind the Leafs going after if they can’t acquire a top-pairing defenceman.
Gudas is an excellent defensively-minded blue-liner who plays a very physical game. I know there is controversy surrounding some of his past plays, however, the defensive game that he can bring to our blue-line is not to be overlooked.
The way I see it is that Gudas is a more consistent Roman Polak. He can help deepen our defensive lineup and it beats having Ron Hainsey on the top pairing.
Gudas has a cap hit of $3.5 million and is signed for two more years after this one. He is right-handed, so that is a plus. He also has a career high of six goals, so that’s not so good.”
Examining the Internal Options of the Toronto Maple Leafs
Speaking of what Dubas can do, that answer may not even lie directly on the roster right now. It’s time to think outside the box, where the Leafs just so happen to possess a top-notch farm system littered with potential NHL-calibre options.
With their postseason standing now cast into doubt, Mike Babcock might be best served to use one or two of them. Frankly, how much worse could things get?
In response to the recent struggles, Josh took it upon himself to get an idea of what the Leafs have at the level below, and whether or not any could stand to help them right now.
Give it a read.
“I have seen Par Lindholm make some pretty sweet plays this season, but we are 47 games in and what I’ve seen him do in 40 something games, I have seen Trevor Moore do all of that and more in 6 games.
A fourth line consisting of Moore-Gauthier-Brown looks pretty awesome to me, but one thing is for sure. Connor Brown has never been a good fit on Matthews wing, and that’s not going to change now. Connor Brown is great on the 4th line and the penalty kill, he is perfectly placed in that position.
With having Moore on the roster, you also have the option of playing him on the 3rd LW position beside Kadri for a couple shifts, Lindholm does not really provide any sort of offensive spark, while Moore provides an offensive spark, a physical presence all without being a liability defensively.”
Toronto Maple Leafs Problems are Obvious and Easy to Fix
James has never been one to shy away from definitive statements, and this is no exception.
Look, we all know what the Leafs’ problems are, right? And I’m not talking about the obvious “the D corps is bad” type answers. No, we’re talking about the specifics here, which have been glaring for almost the entirety of Mike Babcock’s tenure behind the bench and yet remain basically unchanged.
By now, there is no possible explanation that can support why Ron Hainsey is still being used as a top-pairing defenceman. Not a single one. The guy continues to log high-quality minutes while pushing 40, and God bless him for it, but Hainsey’s body couldn’t even survive a single 7-game playoff series last April.
What makes the Leafs think it will hold up for potentially 4 of them this time? What makes this even more head-scratching is that Babcock keeps grinding Hainsey into a fine powder while Justin Holl watches from the press box. You have a puck-moving right-handed defenceman.
USE HIM!
James dives into all this and more in his latest piece from this week.
“Problem number one: Matthews, Kadri and Nylander are in a scoring slump. (Also, Lindholm, Marleau and a few others, but those are the ones that matter).
This problem is super easy to fix: just wait it out.
Matthews was creating chances last night like a machine. He’s eventually going to score nine goals over five games and that will be that.
Nylander, looking like the best fourth liner in NHL history had an assist and eventually forced his way back up the lineup. He was 66% last night. He even had an assist! He’ll also be fine. Good players don’t suddenly get worse, and no matter how much you hate him for holding out, he’s an elite player and will return to his former glory any minute now.
Same with Kadri.”
Thanks for reading!