EIL Roundtable: Have the Toronto Maple Leafs Done Enough to Pass the Bruins?
The Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated by the Boston Bruins in game seven for the second time in a row last spring.
Worse, it was the Toronto Maple Leafs third elimination at the hands of the Bruins in their last four trips to the playoffs.
The worst part about this past season was that the Leafs were the better team, and if you replayed the series a million times, they would have won the majority of them.
But we live in the real world, and in the real world we are only concerned with results. Sure, it’s nice to know that the Leafs “should” have won, because it tells us that they were close, that their team is nearly as good, and that the hype surrounding them is real.
But that isn’t the same things as getting it done. So we must ask ourselves, have the Toronto Maple Leafs done enough to pass the Bruins and Lightning this season?
Not just beat them in the playoffs, but can they finish ahead of them in the standings?
That is the question we posed to our staff for the debut of the 2019-20 Editor in Leaf Roundtable.
Nick Barden
I think the Toronto Maple Leafs did everything they could to overcome the Bruins and Tampa.
They added a top-2 defenseman. They added a true third-line centre, who’s speedy, defensive, and would work well with players like Kasperi Kapanen and Trevor Moore.
They added Jason Spezza, who is by no means ready to retire. He’s coming home just like John Tavares to live his childhood dream, and to also win a Stanley Cup. I believe this team can do it.
They almost overcame the Bruins last season, and they could’ve done it. I don’t know what happened, but I know it won’t happen this year. Whenever they played Tampa in the regular season, they always showed that they could keep up and play as good as them.
That team doesn’t scare me because they both have similar playing styles. Other than the fact that they can bring better players on cheaper contracts because of the taxes, they’re very similar.
The Leafs are going to finish 2nd in the division right behind the Bolts. I think Tampa will have the better regular season, and I think Boston will have a mediocre season. Zdeno Chara is getting old, and even though he’s passing the torch on, he will still be there, and probably on their top defense pairing.
Toronto has a chance to finish 2nd and get home ice advantage in the first round. They can do it, but they have to hope injuries don’t build up and they can rely on their best players to do well.
Spencer Teixeira
In a short answer, yes.
Tampa Bay lost the perennially underrated J.T Miller as a cap casualty, but added declining defender Kevin Shattenkirk and Stanley Cup champion Pat Maroon on cheap deals.
The Lightning are also without star RFA centreman Brayden Point for the time being, which is a huge hit to their forward core. The Bruins are without two young, minute-logging defenders in Charlie McAvoy and Brendan Carlo, whom are also RFAs.
Boston added depth forwards Par Lindholm, Brett Ritchie, Brendan Gaunce after losing Marcus Johansson (significant) and Noel Acciari.
The Toronto Maple Leafs rid themselves of cap-killers Nikita Zaitsev and Ron Hainsey, but added defensive anchor Cody Ceci.
Toronto traded longtime forward Nazem Kadri and depth defenseman Calle Rosen for top-two defender Tyson Barrie and second-line forward Alex Kerfoot.
The Leafs also added nice depth pieces in Jason Spezza, Nick Shore, Kenny Agostino, and Pontus Aberg. The Leafs are also without RFA winger Mitch Marner and are without longtime defender Jake Gardiner (for now). Toronto seems to have the most quality adding this offseason than either of Tampa and Boston and are significantly better than the team lost to the Bruins in April.
Mark Lugtsy
Year after year the media hot bed that is in Toronto, has constantly begged the Toronto Maple Leafs for that top pairing right handed defenseman.
July 1st came by and Kyle Dubas was a busy body, working the phone lines, trading much-maligned defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, Connor Brown, Michael Carcone in exchange for polarizing defensemen Cody Ceci, Ben Harpur and minor league forward Aaron Luchuk with a 2020 3rd pick.
When acquiring a top pairing defenseman, you have to give in order to get, with Tyson Barrie at retained salary, Dubas managed to also received Alex Kerfoot and a 2020 6th round pick. Dubas had to give up long time Leaf, Nazem Kadri, Calle Rosen and a 3rd round pick in 2020. Before July 1st, at the draft, Dubas was able to offload Patrick Marleau to the Hurricanes to free up space to re-sign Kapanen, Johnsson and Marner.
With this new found space from trading Marleau, Brown and Zaitsev, Dubas was able to go bargain hunting for UFA’s as well. July 1st was packed with a flurry of moves, trades and signings with Dubas signing *deep breath*; Jason Spezza, Kenny Agostino, Nick Shore, Pontus Aberg, Michal Neuvirth (PTO), Garrett Wilson, Kenny Agostino, Kevin Gravel.
Now the question is- Did Dubas do enough to overtake the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning? What is evident is that Dubas more than understands that Toronto needs to become harder to play against based on his trades and UFA signings- Garrett Wilson, Kevin Gravel, Cody Ceci, Ben Harpur, Kenny Agostino.
Looking at these players, they may not even be significant pieces for the leafs but its a step in a balancing act for Dubas. The players mentioned above are not easy to play against, as they all bring a physical presence on the ice.
Boston as we all know is through and through tough to play against. Tampa is of the same ilk as Toronto- attacking its opponents with waves of offense. When Mitch Marner hopefully re-signs, Toronto will have its core locked down for at least 2 years- Marner, Matthews, Rielly, JT, Andersen. Toronto is an established team and looking at their additions, it looks like they are ready to overtake Boston and Tampa.
James Tanner
The answer is yes and no.
The Toronto Maple Leafs might have gotten deeper this summer, but that isn’t really worth all that many wins.
They may have gotten more balanced, but again, that isn’t going to make a huge difference. The added depth is nice, but this isn’t soccer, and stars win you games in hockey.
The Leafs lost Gardiner and Kadri, and they added Barrie and Kerfoot. A generous homer Leafs-only fan might call that a draw. At best.
Whether or not the Toronto Maple Leafs improved their team is a question that is, at best, debatable.
The thing is though, there are many ways in which they can still get better. From getting more from Nylander (as if leading your team in puck possession, play driving, scoring chance creation, as well as posting positive differentials in every stat category, and being versatile enough to move to centre when someone gets suspended wasn’t already pretty good) to getting internal, age-related improvement from the likes of Matthews or Marner.
The Leafs can get better, and they were already pretty great.
They could have won last year’s Stanley Cup if just a couple of things went right for them. The Leafs are already a superior team to Boston and equal to Tampa.
Guess what? Tampa won’t put up an 11-3 record with one goal games again. They won’t shoot 23% on the power-play (while Toronto is unlikely to shoot 12% again). The Leafs are already just as good as Tampa.
So while I don’t think the Leafs improved enough this offseason, I think they are already at the point where they only need things to go right for them in order to win.
They should be the favorites to win the Atlantic Division, the President’s Trophy and the Stanley Cup.
Peri Gallacher
The past two playoff seasons of game seven failures against Boston have tarnished a once hopeful heart- i’m not saying I’m giving up on their chances of defeating the Bruins completely, but there’s a newfound cynicism going into this new season.
The disdain I have for the Bruins and the curse that befalls the Toronto Maple Leafs when they step foot on the ice in the TD Garden, is mighty. It’s become this David and Goliath story- the Leafs vs the Bruins- Skill vs Braun.
It’s undeniable that the Bruins pose one of the best top lines in the league, with Marchand- Bergeron – Pastrnak, and they are lethal in playoff prime.
There’s also the fact that the Bruins are just a more physical team than the Leafs, all and all and unless some guys got real aggressive real fast there’s no way by playoffs this year the leafs would be able to out muscle them.
The biggest issue I’d say is in the coaching department, it’s like Babcock doesn’t want them to win. He underplayed star players like Matthews all through the series but the moment that comes to mind is the 2018 playoffs where he specifically called on Patrick Marleau (age 39) for extra manpower and on the power play instead of younger, more agile players like Tavares and Marner.
The only way the Leafs are getting through the Bruins is if Babcock loosens up and quits his antics of playing the guts out of guys who should be retiring in the next two years and plays decent line ups on power plays and uses star players like Auston Matthews when they should be used.
Here’s to a new season and hopefully the defeat of Toronto’s Goliath
Next. Michael Mazzei. dark
Michael Mazzei
The Toronto Maple Leafs have, for the most part, assembled a projected roster that is miles different and arguably better than what was iced in Game 7 this past April.
Is it enough to overtake the Boston Bruins and Tampa Lightning? As of right now, I can confidently say the Toronto Maple Leafs should at least have a better odds at finishing 2nd in the Atlantic Division.
This isn’t to suggest that it’s a guarantee as nothing in the NHL is.
Last season, the Toronto Maple Leafs finished with 100 points and the closest non-playoff team, the Montreal Canadiens, had 96 (!). No doubt the addition of John Tavares improved an already lethal offensive unit, but the defense remained a question mark, and Frederik Andersen continued to be heavily relied upon.
Thus, the Leafs had an identical playoff run to the previous campaign: short and eliminated by those pesky Bruins.
It is true that the defense has had a major shake over this summer, with the arrivals of Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, and Ben Harpur chief among them.
On the flip side, the offence, sans a few notable departures in Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown, remains largely the same (pending a Mitch Marner contract extension).
So in terms of skaters, the roster will have plenty of high expectations to take significant steps in their ascension. Really what will dictate if the Leafs can catapult themselves in the Atlantic is the workload of Andersen and whomever his backup goalie is.
If Andersen gets overburdened as has the case, then the Leafs will likely end up in 3rd place yet again. Should his call of duty be lowered and the backup gets more quality starts, then a different result may be in the cards after all.
Dubas: "We Haven't Even Thought About It". dark. Next
In all, the Leafs have made a drastic transition of their roster and it should set them up for success. Their outlook, however, will likely come down to how the goalie situation plays out in 2019-20.