The Toronto Maple Leafs recently concluded what some may refer to as an up and down season.
Naturally, that made for the perfect time for some performance grades of each and every player throughout it, which is exactly what the Editor in Leaf team did.
Our 2018-19 players grades were a massive undertaking, drawing multiple opinions from our entire staff in order to accurately evaluate each player who happened to don the blue and white over the past year.
Due to the project’s size, it’s entirely likely that some of you fine folks may have missed it. And if that applies to you, well, you’re in luck!
Here is a brief recap of the Editor in Leaf 2018-19 Season Leafs Player Grades.
Enjoy!
The Forwards
Highest Grade: John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner (A+)
Lowest Grade: Frederik Gauthier (D-)
No huge surprises here, really. Each of John Tavares, Auston Matthews, and Mitch Marner had phenomenal seasons respectively, as either player could be pointed to as the Maple Leafs’ best forward and receive little to no complaints.
Tavares finished a scant 3 goals away from breaching the 50-goal mark, becoming the first Maple Leaf to pot at least 47 in a single year since Dave Andreychuk managed 53 in 1992-93. Matthews, as well, could have made a case to even surpass that mark were it not for a shoulder injury he suffered early in the season which held him out for a month. And Marner, of course, funnelled in an eye-popping 94 points while playing on Tavares’ wing.
Safe to say, the Big Three™ all came through.
One player who didn’t however, was Frederik Gauthier. His 2018-19 performance earned the 24-year-old the less-than-stellar grade of D+, thanks in large part to the 14 points Gauthier strung together across 70 games and his team-worst CF/60 at 5v5 mark of 45.8%, per Hockey-Reference.
It was not a very successful season for Gauthier, even in decidedly sheltered minutes. And with the Maple Leafs now entering into a summer of complete unpredictability, his role on the fourth line may wind up getting filled by someone else.
The Defencemen
Highest Grade: Morgan Rielly (A+)
Lowest Grade: Ron Hainsey (D)
It’s very rare that you’ll find both the highest and lowest graded defenceman on a team actually serve as partners. And yet, based on James’ evaluation, that is exactly what the Maple Leafs experienced this season.
Morgan Rielly is a no-brainer. Putting forth god-like totals of 20 goals, 52 assists and 72 points in all 82 games, as a defenceman, no less, will earn you an A+ every day of the week.
It’s on the other end of the spectrum, however, where things don’t necessarily seem to fit.
Ron Hainsey was certainly not Toronto’s most productive blueliner in 2018-19. Nor was he their most effective, either. In fact, the veteran produced a meagre CF/60 at 5v5 of just 48.9% and appeared to be typically outmatched whenever put up against opposing top lines. But Hainsey served as a steadying presence throughout the bulk of the year for a constantly-in-flux Leafs backend nevertheless, looking particularly at home in his brief stint with Travis Dermott on the third pairing following the arrival of Jake Muzzin.
Hainsey did not succeed in a number of areas. That’s for sure. But he also was put in a position that was considered as obviously above his head by everyone other than the head coach. This is a caveat that should afford Hainsey a sense of leeway that, say, Nikita Zaitsev isn’t.
What do you think, though? Did Tanner get it right?
Goaltenders
Highest Grade: Frederik Andersen (A-)
Lowest Grade: Garret Sparks (C-)
The only qualm I have with this category is that Garret Sparks didn’t finish any lower. The 25-year-old backup was downright abysmal in what stood as his first full NHL season, appearing shaky in the crease on the best of nights, and completely lost on the worst.
In the modern NHL, the role of the backup goaltender has evolved immeasurably in recent years, reaching the point today where a good one almost has to serve the role a 1A. 82 regular season games of fatigue are simply too much to put on one netminder’s shoulders. So, employing a capable understudy who can afford your starter the occasional off night without experiencing a significant drop in performance is an advantage that most teams long for.
Sparks failed to give the Maple Leafs any of that.
Not only did the Elmhurst-native finish the year with some underwhelming numbers (a .902 save percentage in just 20 games of action is the worst of them) but Sparks caused his fair share of distractions along the way as well, criticizing his team’s lack of effort which then led to him being left off the Maple Leafs’ postseason roster entirely.
It’s hard to imagine Sparks’ official rookie year going any worse than it ultimately did. And now, with some significant questions permeating Toronto’s roster, he may be facing an uphill battle in training camp to reclaim his backup job.
Thanks for reading! Did you agree with our player grades? If not, what would you change? Let us know in the comment section below.