Toronto Maple Leafs End of the Season Awards
The Toronto Maple Leafs clinched a playoff spot Monday night with a 2-1 win over the New York Islanders.
With a playoff spot secured, the Toronto Maple Leafs will play out the rest of the season to see who gets home ice advantage in their upcoming series against the Bruins.
Should the Leafs go 2-1 or 3-0 in their final three (this article, was submitted prior to last night’s Carolina game) with the Bruins 0-3 or 1-2 respectively, the Leafs will tie them in points and win home ice because they hold the tie breaker.
At least this gives a little excitement to the playing out of the schedule.
In the meantime, let’s check out who wins the Toronto Maple Leafs team awards this year.
MVP / Hart
When it comes to the NHL Awards, nothing is more annoying than the people who hold to the wording of the Hart Trophy description – “Most valuable to his team,” – because this creates all sorts of idiotic choices, such as passing on the obvious best player last year (McDavid) because some people thought Taylor Hall was more valuable to his team’s success.
That’s crap.
This would be annoying in any sport, but in hockey it’s crazy because 100% of the time, the most valuable player is your team’s goalie. If Edmonton got even average goaltending the last two seasons, they’d most likely have made the playoffs both years.
There are almost no exceptions to this rule: if your starting goalie is injured, your season is over. Now, sometimes a back-up can come in and go for a run, but it’s highly unlikely.
In recent years we’ve seen it happen, but it’s almost always a total fluke. There are a few current back-ups who may one day be star goalies, but they are few and far between. A tandem like Rask/Halak is pretty rare, and other than Boston, and maybe the Islanders, no other playoff team can afford to lose their starter.
So with that in mind, I do not subscribe to the Freddie Andersen as the Leafs MVP. He’s an obvious choice for the Vezina, but the Leafs best player this year has been John Tavares.
Your Toronto Maple Leafs MVP is John Tavares and it should be unanimous. He’s got 46 goals, might get to 50, and last I checked, he lead the league in 5v5 goals.
It’s a no-brainer.
Best Defenseman
This is no contest – Morgan Rielly has been the best defenseman on the Toronto Maple Leafs, and in the NHL.
Now, I can’t tell you that Morgan Rielly is the best defenseman in the NHL from a talent perspective, or that he’ll be the best next year – but he’s been the best this year. Since Erik Karlsson got injured, the field has been wide open, and Rielly has earned it.
I really hope the writers don’t screw this up, because Rielly should be an absolute lock to bring the award home to Toronto for the first time ever.
He is at, or near the top, of the rankings among NHL defenseman in goals, points, even strength points and goals, and points/60. (all stats naturalhattrick.com).
I wrote a detailed analysis of Rielly’s competition here. He’s got a pretty solid case – he’s got pedigree, he’s got a history of being amazing (last year only he and Doughty and Hedman finished with 50 points and a positive possession rating while facing top competition), and he’s done it all while dragging around 37 year old Ron Hainsey who has no business on the top line.
It’s mind boggling to consider what his numbers would be like if he had a quality partner like all of his Norris competitors do.
Rielly should win the Norris, but he is hands down the best defenseman on the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Rookie of the Year
The Calder this year will be going to Elias Petterson of the Vancouver Canucks, but Andreas Johnsson should at least get a few second or third place votes.
Johnsson has done an admirable job with the unenviable task of replacing James van Riemsdyk as the Leafs #1 left-winger.
Though he has a slow start, and though he missed several games with a concussion, Johnsson has had a great season.
The former seventh round pick has scored 20 goals and 22 assists for 42 points in 71 games. He’s a gritty player who doesn’t really get credit for how chippy and mean he actually is. Additionally, he’s got wheels and has been a perfect fit for Auston Matthews and William Nylander.
Together, they have formed arguably the best line in hockey since they were put together about a month ago.
For a team with John Tavares and three early drafted forwards who are all on their way to being 90 point superstars, it’s an embarrassment of riches to turn a seventh round pick into a legitimate first line player.
Other Awards
The Toronto Maple Leads only have one coach and one goalie, so team versions of the Jack Adams and Vezina are pretty pointless, but here are their other awards:
Selke – the best defensive player on the Leafs this year is Tavares. He gets it done against top competition every night, and other teams rarely score when he’s on the ice.
Biggest Surprise – Travis Dermott’s development. Dermott has been arguably the best third pairing defenseman in the NHL, the team struggled when he went down, and he is a legitimate top-four defenseman.
Plus, he can play the right side, so he’s versatile.
Biggest Disappointment – Mike Babcock. His lack of experimentation, his inability to fix the power play (or to pass the buck on the topic to his assistant), and his insistence on overplaying Brown, Marleau and Hainsey makes him a good candidate for worst coach of the year.
People may have unfair expectations of Babcock because of his reputation, but he hasn’t even lived up to half of them. Stacking his power play and then changing it halfway through is crazy. And why are the top three centres on the team on the same unit?
Auston Matthews doesn’t play enough, and he and Tavares should both be killing penalties. Also, Matthews has over 50 blocked shots when he should have zero. Other than that, I guess he’s fine.
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This concludes your Toronto Maple Leafs end of the year awards.