The Toronto Maple Leafs are back in business, 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.
The Potential Greatness of the Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are good, right? I think we can all agree on that. But this team isn’t built to merely top out as “good”. With the staggering depth littered throughout the lineup, their ceiling is being “great”.
In his latest piece from this week, James urges you to not only take into account what the Leafs currently are at the moment. He wants you to pay attention to their potential as well.
The Leafs have yet to ice their most optimal lineup over 50 games into the season. There seemingly has not been a point yet when all their big guns have been firing on all cylinders and everyone is healthy at the same time.
Case in point; the best is yet to come. Give James’ piece a read to find out why.
“I think the Leafs can beat any team in the NHL in a seven-game series, and I don’t think they should be afraid of anyone – I think teams should be afraid of them.
We’re sort of used to it by now, seeing it every game, but the Toronto Maple Leafs have Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Nazem Kadri lined up down the middle. That is one thing in a regular season game, but when it comes time to match-up against the Leafs in a playoff game, it’s going to be impossible.
Also, their recent defensive pairings will keep one of Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzin or Jake Gardiner on the ice at all times. That’s a pretty scary proposition for any team to take on.”
Toronto Maple Leafs: Don’t Believe the Glendening Rumours
It seems like we do this dance every year.
Mike Babcock loves himself a depth centre. He lives for them. Unfortunately, those depth centres are generally pretty bad most of the time and symbolize the exact type of playing style the Leafs do their best to avoid.
Luke Glendening is the most glaring example of this. He’s a horrific possession driver with little to no offensive upside and remains under contract through next season at a cap hit of nearly $2 million. Why would any team, especially the Leafs, forfeit assets to get him?
Well, if the rumours are to be believed, it’s because Glendening once played for Babcock back in Detroit. That’s it. That’s the entire reason.
I probably don’t need to tell you that this is bogus. But if you don’t believe me, take Wil’s word for it.
“Carrying a salary of $1,8 million for 2 more seasons, he isn’t in the range the Toronto Maple Leafs should focus on. The suggestion the Detroit Red Wings retaining salary is not just far-fetched, it’s idiotic. The possible return for the type of player Luke Glendening is – a fourth line centre – isn’t worth retaining salary for.
Even if the Red Wings weren’t in denial of needing a rebuild.
If anything, Frederik Gauthier already serves as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ best fit for a fourth line centre. Carrying the kind of salary that they can afford this season and the following season for his position.”
Toronto Maple Leafs: Trade Talks With Hurricanes Find New Life
The Leafs and Hurricanes have seemingly been linked in trade talks for eternity.
This has noticeably picked up as of late, with Kyle Dubas taking over as Leafs GM and Carolina possessing a whole crop of the possession-driving, right-shot defencemen Dubas seemingly loves so much.
This year, however, these talks seem to have some credibility behind them.
Laurence Gilman was reportedly in Carolina over the past week to do some pre-deadline scouting, and the name Dougie Hamilton was floated around on a recent addition of “Headlines”. As well, this news comes hot off the speculation that the Leafs aren’t done making moves with the trade deadline a little over a week away, and promptly lit Twitter on fire.
In his latest piece, Jarret speculates on who the Leafs could target from the Hurricanes and what they’d need to give up to make a potential deal happen.
“Brett Pesce of the Carolina Hurricanes is a player that the Toronto Maple Leafs hold in high regard. Pesce profiles as a right-shot, possession-driving defenseman who can skate and move the puck well.
Since Pesce entered the league in 2015-16, he is one of only three defensemen in the NHL to have over 150 takeaways and have more takeaways than giveaways. Alex Pietrangelo and Jacob Slavin are the other two players on that short list.”
Thanks for reading!