Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: Most Surprising Off-Season Roster Addition

My Take

Alexander Kerfoot, no doubt the best offseason addition by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Kerfoot surpassed every ambitious expectation I had with his game. With all the offseason additions playing well, that’s really saying something.

With all the attention on the 3-game losing streak, which ended in Detroit on Saturday, the strong play by Kerfoot and his line has been underexposed.

Truth to be told, I’m not at all disappointed by the Toronto Maple Leafs season start. Everyone probably hoped their record to be 6-0-0 by now, but 3-2-1 isn’t a bad start necessarily. They played some seriously good hockey in at least 5 of their 6 games, that’s worth something to me.

Kerfoot has been a big part of this, being on pace for a 55 point season with an average ice-time of 14:45 minutes, that’s insane, folks. No doubt Kerfoot has the potential to reach that, having new fan-favourite Mikheyev on his wing isn’t exactly slowing that down either.

The underlying numbers don’t lie, Kerfoot and his line have been really well for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Dominating the play when on the ice with an exceptional 53% possession rate, a rating of 57% in scoring chances, and a rating of 71% goals for when on the ice.

It’s obvious, the Kerfoot for Kadri trade even further improved the Toronto Maple Leafs centre-depth, undoubtedly and undisputed, they now have the best centre-depth in the league.

Alex Hobson

I feel like I’ve been a broken record on this topic, but my answer yet again is Ilya Mikheyev.

The Leafs haven’t had good luck with European signings as of late. The Zaitsev signing looked good for one year, then he seemingly lost all his confidence and he’s now locked into a horrible long-term contract playing for the Ottawa Senators. Par Lindholm scored a whopping one goal in 61 games for the Leafs and now plays for the Boston Bruins, while Igor Ozhiganov just never looked in place with the Leafs and went back to Russia after one NHL season.

With all this being taken into consideration, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ilya Mikheyev. In fact, I was keeping expectations low given the track record the Leafs were developing with European signings.

But four games into the season and I’m not only surprised but very impressed by the way Mikheyev has played. He has one goal and three points so far and he’s clearly already gained Mike Babcock’s trust seeing that he’s being granted penalty kill minutes.

The third line as a whole has been a pleasant surprise. Mikheyev along with linemates Alex Kerfoot and Trevor Moore has been performing beyond expectations, and Mikheyev stands out the most to me just because we already knew what Kerfoot and Moore were capable of.

Having Mikheyev come into the league with no NHL experience and playing the way he’s been playing has been really nice to see. If he keeps it up, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on getting some time alongside either Auston Matthews or John Tavares.

Philip van Riesen

The Toronto Maple Leafs roster changed substantially over the offseason, with eight new faces to the roster. Most of the new additions to the team have gone as I expected, although there are two new faces that scream out to me as considerable surprises, both being on the positive side of things.

These new faces that have surprised me are Ilya Mikheyev otherwise known as“Souperman” and Rasmus Sandin also known as “Sandman”.

Ilya Mikheyev coming as a 25-year-old free agent from Europe was a wildcard with the fact that we had no idea of what to expect with him.

Personally I did not have any sort of hopes for Mikheyev given all of the other European free agents the Toronto Maple Leafs have brought over have not been anything but fourth-liners or bottom pair players.

But Mickheyev has greatly surpassed my expectations, with the relentless forechecking he brings, he is constantly able to strip puck carriers and take away passing lanes.

Mikheyev is a smart positional hockey player at both ends of the ice, similar to Hyman in a way, but he has some sweet hands to come with that. Mikheyev seems like a fantastic addition to the team and far more than capable of being an extremely valuable player to have on a third line, I could even see him replacing Kapanen on the top line or line 1a/1b to fulfill the left-wing role until Hyman returns.

For the 19-year-old Swedish defencemen Rasmus Sandin, he has been very successful in the role he has been given, and as a result, his minutes have been slowly climbing.

If there were no number on Sandin’s jersey, many would expect him to be a 10-year veteran in the NHL with the way he plays, it is phenomenal how poised he is at such a young age. Sandin has continuously been able to make smart decisions with and without the puck on his stick, he has been able to keep up to pace with the NHL being able to come out of the corners with the puck on his stick.

Before training camp began I was not even expecting Sandin to make the NHL roster, but he has made the roster and looked great doing so, it is safe to say he has been a real positive addition to the team.

Nick Barden

Cody Ceci has been a pleasant surprise, but I’m not ready to say he’s been great just yet.

The surprise is from the points he’s produced in the past six games. I never expected Ceci to come into this roster and make an immediate impact, but in terms of production, he has.

Three points in six games as a defenseman is decent. You can’t give Ceci all the credit though, he’s playing with Morgan Rielly, who has five assists in six games.

Rielly is the reason I’m not ready to say that Ceci has been great. The assistant captain has looked lost in the past three or four games and I don’t know if that’s because of Ceci, or another reason, but it’s not the normal Rielly that we’re used to seeing on the ice.

It’s too early to blame Ceci and it’s way too early to judge Rielly’s game and say he’s taken a possible dip in production, but right now, I’m happy with how Ceci has performed.

Not in the spotlight, but slowly producing. Like Kyle Dubas and Mike Babcock said, they believe there’s another level to Ceci’s game that they can find.

Let me tell you, if Dubas and Babcock can unlock the hidden traits that Ceci apparently has, I will be surprised and this will turn out as a great move by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

James Tanner

My pick for the most surprising addition is Alexander Kerfoot.

I knew Kerfoot was good, because one  of my favorite NHL analysts said that he should have won the Selke Trophy last  season, but I didn’t realize he was so fast.

Kerfoot has looked pretty dangerous on a  nightly basis, and I have to say that he’s been a more than adequate replacement for Kadri.  Since he was drafted, Nazem Kadri was one of my favorite players, and a big part of me wishes he could be on this team when they eventually win, but at the same time, Kerfoot is a better fit.

Kerfoot is a superior defensive player,  and while Kadri is better offensively, the fact is the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t need his offense, so he was wasted.  Kerfoot gives the Leafs a solid #3 centre, with the versatility to move up to play wing in the top six, which is what I think we’ll see eventually.

I really think the defensive awareness of Kerfoot might go very nicely on a line with Matthews and Nylander, but either way, I’m glad he’s on the team.

54% Corsi with 57% of the scoring chances are very nice numbers, and the fact that he, Moore and Mikheyev seem to mesh so well makes the Toronto Maple Leafs incredibly dangerous.