The season is officially over for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
But that doesn’t mean the content must stop. Yes, although the Maple Leafs may not be playing actual hockey games anymore, the Editor in Leaf staff have been working around the clock to ensure that every angle from every offseason topic has been covered.
With so many pieces hitting the wall all at once, it’s natural that a few may have fallen through the cracks. So, let’s take a look at some of the past week’s most intriguing pieces.
Two Random Things That Bug Me About the Toronto Maple Leafs
Frankly, I’m shocked James came up with only two.
The Maple Leafs are a very, very weird team. Everything they do is under a microscope and, although Kyle Dubas did rip most of Mike Babcock’s toys out of his hands over the summer, there are still a few left for the stubborn old coach to play with. I’m not too excited about the possibility of regular Ben Harpur, for one.
Still, in his latest piece, James goes through two distinct things that are bugging him about the Leafs this year, and why they continue to stick in his craw.
“Regardless, there are two very easy ways in which the Leafs can improve this year. These are luck-based factors, so they really can’t control it, but given that they didn’t pan out last year, maybe they will this year.
The first is their record in one-goal games. With the salary cap creating near full parity, the odds of coming out ahead in one-goal game are basically a coin-flip.
Tampa was 11-3 in one-goal games, while the Leafs were 6-5. This is not because Tampa is better. If anything, the better team will play less one-goal games (although you could say the same thing about a worse team, but we know both these teams are excellent).”
The Toronto Maple Leafs Must Replace Their Backup Goalie
Garret Sparks is gone. After one of the weirdest and most frustrating goalie seasons in recent Leaf memory, Sparks is headed to the Vegas Golden Knight to get some more of that opportunity he definitely didn’t have seven years-worth of in Toronto.
While his departure is a positive step, the Maple Leafs do have a hole in net behind Frederik Andersen. The starter cannot play 60+ games anymore. He needs an understudy.
Who are the candidates? Well, those would be Michael Hutchinson and Michal Neuvirth. So, not exactly the best options out there. Hutchinson and Neuvirth will duke it out in camp for the mantle of Toronto’s #2, highlighting one of the roster’s most important and still existing needs.
In her piece this week, Peri goes through these two challengers, along with a few other internal netminders, to see who has the best shot of making the team.
“Although Neuvirth dealt with injury for the majority of the 18-19 season, playing only seven games with the Philadelphia Flyers, and while he doesn’t necessarily have all that impressive career numbers with a 105-93-26 record, a .910 save percentage and a GAA of 2.71 in 257 NHL games played, he does bring something to the table that Sparks didn’t— League experience. it’s hard to argue that Neuvirth’s 11 seasons in the NHL, with more than one team, isn’t a near necessity in a backup for someone at the skill level of Andersen.
He knows what’s going to be coming at him; he’s 31; he’s comfortable, and sure, he’s not a superstar, but as a placeholder every now and then? I could handle that.”
Toronto Maple Leafs Punished by NHL’s Post Application of Rules
Look, I’m not going to stand here and tell you that the NHL is biased against the Maple Leafs. But I will let Phillip do it in his piece this week.
The Maple Leafs were given some pretty horrendous results when it came to penalties last year. In what seemed to be a series of stunning coincidences night after night, Toronto would take on one of the NHL’s most penalized teams and, somehow, draw zero penalties. That’s, you know, sort of weird when your realize that the Maple Leafs are the kind of thoroughly fast team that should draw penalties at a historic rate.
But, nope! No, sir! Their opponent just played a perfectly clean game whenever Toronto was on the schedule. That’s the only explanation.
This week, Phillip goes through exactly how the Leafs were jobbed out of powerplays and what factors were behind it.
“For the Leafs, they averaged a total of 48 seconds more penalty’s drawn than taken per game, which isn’t even close to totalling one extra two-minute power play over the opposition.
Simply put, the referees make the calls even or as close of they possibly can be, whether one team is chippy and the other is friendly, they will end up even in penalties taken and penalties drawn.”
Thanks for reading!