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Toronto Maple Leafs: The Most Disappointing Player This Season

By Wilbert Timmermans

TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 07: Morgan Rielly #44, Ilya Mikheyev #65, and Frederik Andersen #31 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skate during player introductions before playing the Vegas Golden Knights at the Scotiabank Arena on November 7, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 07: Morgan Rielly #44, Ilya Mikheyev #65, and Frederik Andersen #31 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skate during player introductions before playing the Vegas Golden Knights at the Scotiabank Arena on November 7, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 15: Cody Ceci #83 of the Toronto Maple Leafs takes the ice to play the Boston Bruins at the Scotiabank Arena on November 15, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 15: Cody Ceci #83 of the Toronto Maple Leafs takes the ice to play the Boston Bruins at the Scotiabank Arena on November 15, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Eric Cruikshank

Cody Ceci, obviously.

At the beginning of the year, I honestly did not have any issues with Cody Ceci being placed on the top pairing with Morgan Rielly. I was not totally sold that the Leafs would be keeping him on the team for long anyways, due to the fact Dermott was not even going to be in the lineup at the start of the year, and I had high hopes that Sandin would become a regular on the team.

I considered this to be a smart way to try and build Ceci’s value up before trying to facilitate trade at some point during the season. This idea of a trade is still possible, but his value has only decreased since his time with the Maple Leafs.

There are times when I seriously wonder what is going on in his mind when positioned in the defensive zone. Far too often Ceci has been caught a mile away from the man he is supposed to be covering, and I think largely it is due to the fact he gets caught puck-watching.

Patrick Kane’s goal against the Leafs was a perfect example of this. Although it ended up deflecting off of Ceci and going in, he began covering Dylan Strome from behind the net, and when the puck came across the centre of the ice to Kane, he completely abandoned Strome who was wide open in front of the net. It’s defensive mishaps like that which can pile up and hurt your team in the long run.

In my opinion, I can see a potential set of defensive pairings that arguably looks better without Cody Ceci in the lineup. I think that Sandin has definitely made a case for himself to be ready to play in the NHL, and for a team that is hard-pressed for cap space, I can think of many other places to spend $4.5 million.

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