Toronto Maple Leafs: Atlantic Division Power Rankings November

Welcome to a new series here on Editor in Leaf.

For the rest of the season, myself and my colleague Wilbert Timmermans will be working together on a monthly segment where we rank the teams in the Atlantic Division.

I wrote about the top four teams and posed a question that Wilbert answered, and vice versa for the bottom four teams. Here’s what we came up with.

Stats for this article from NHL.com and naturalstattrick.com

Boston Bruins

Alex: No Leafs fan wants to hear it, but the Boston Bruins are a damn good hockey team.

And on paper, they shouldn’t be better than the Leafs. They have the most dominant line in hockey with Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and David Pastrnak. They have solid secondary scoring with guys like Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci. They have a good defensive core led by young star Charlie McAvoy and stable goaltending.

But in reality, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the talent to make up for that top line and the depth to add onto it. And say what you want about their defence, a top three of Morgan Rielly, Tyson Barrie, and Jake Muzzin is not one to be tested when they’re all on top of their game.

But in the end, the Bruins are an experienced team with a core that knows what it takes to win. And they never take a shift off. They want it year after year and never seem to slow down.

With this, Wilbert, I have to ask you. Are the Bruins going to be able to remain at the top running off of one line and stable defence? Or are they simply too hot to handle?

Wilbert: “Boston is something else, that’s for sure. In 28 games, they managed to set themselves apart from the Atlantic Division, leading the second ranked Panthers by 14 points. In the spawn of those 28 games, only 3 times did the Bruins not at least pick up a point.

The season’s still long, Boston will lose games. Pastrnak’s insane goal scoring pace will cool down. The Tampa Bay Lightning might catch up with them, at least make it a tight race for first again.

Boston is curing Toronto from their first-round syndrome by qualifying as the Atlantic first seed at this pace.

To add injury to insult, the Boston Bruins are performing to their potential while Toronto stays behind under-performing, struggling even.”

Florida Panthers

Alex: Up next, following the Boston Bruins, we have the Tampa Ba-no, the Toronto Ma-no, the…Florida Panthers?

I gotta give credit where credit’s due.

The Panthers have been playing some good hockey this season. In a division where the top three was hands down expected to be Boston, Tampa Bay, and Toronto, they saw an opportunity with the latter two teams getting off to a slow start, and they ran with it.

The motto surrounding the Panthers this season has been simple. Goals will be scored. The Panthers have been scoring a ton this season, sitting at fifth in the league for overall goals for, but at the same time they sit in the bottom five for goals against.

It’s clear that one of the Panthers’ most noticeable issues this year has been goaltending, which was unexpected considering their highlight signing of the offseason was the top goalie on the market in Sergei Bobrovsky.

Bobrovsky has seen the weakest start to his season since 2011-12, sporting a GAA of 3.48 and a save percentage of .884.

It’s usually unfair to blame a team’s problems on the goalie, but considering Bobrovsky’s track record, you would think that something has to give eventually.

With all this being known, Wilbert, and assuming the Toronto Maple Leafs and Lightning don’t continue their slump for much longer, do you think the Panthers need to do something drastic in an effort to improve their goals allowed? Or are they better off staying put? 

Wilbert: “The Panthers need to stay put, definitely.

Regarding their goaltending situation that is. I don’t see Bobrovsky as a problem, yet. He’s still one of the best goaltenders over the past years, a slow start to the season with a new team and a different style won’t change that.

The Panthers are looking like a legitimate playoff team for the first time in years, management in Florida would do wise to try and add some extra depth at the deadline.

The fans finally have a contending team to cheer for again, they shouldn’t waste that.”

Tampa Bay Lightning

Alex: After an unusually slow start to the season, the Tampa Bay Lightning are starting to pick things up.

They currently sit with a record of 13-9-3 and aren’t in a playoff spot, but nobody in the Atlantic Division aside from the Boston Bruins have really played incredible this season. With this being known, the Lightning are only two points out of a playoff spot, sitting behind the Buffalo Sabres.

The Lightning are currently sitting at 11th in the league in terms of goals scored, which isn’t bad, until you consider that this is the same Lightning team that employed three 40 goal scorers as well as the owner of 128 points last season.

The Lightning are one of the most feared offensive teams in the league, and while they’ve been good this year, they haven’t compared to last year.

One of the bright spots on the team this year has been Kevin Shattenkirk, who has bounced back after a tough season with the New York Rangers and has an impressive 20 points in 25 games on the year thus far. He’s been an integral part of the Lightning’s powerplay and looks to be much more comfortable with his new team?

Wilbert, it’s clear that the Lightning are slowly but surely turning things around this year. Based on the success they had last year, how long should they wait before doing anything to alter the roster? 

Wilbert: “I think the Tampa Bay would do best to not over rush anything at this point.

They’ve been crowned winners of the Stanley Cup at the start of the season for the last couple of years, that pressure obviously didn’t bud well for them.

With the attention now on teams like Boston, Washington and St. Louis, it’s interesting to see how they will do without the pressure. 

They will likely add some pieces at the deadline, don’t forget they’re on a win now strategy with the signing of Point last summer. Only in case of an injury of a key player should they act sooner.” 

Toronto Maple Leafs

Alex: Ah, yes. This one is going to be fun.

This season has been nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster for both the team and the fans.

They started off the season ok, before plummeting into an absolutely garbage few weeks of hockey including a six game losing streak. This losing streak, ultimately, cost Mike Babcock his job.

The Toronto Maple Leafs promptly hired Sheldon Keefe to replace him and immediately the team looked better. They were scoring more, looked more engaged, just looked like they gave a damn.

And then they dropped a stinker to the Philadelphia Flyers and followed up with another loss the next day.

This coaching changed showed fans that the hiring of Keefe wasn’t a quick fix to all of the team’s problems.

Things are better, but they aren’t perfect. They’ve seemed to fix a bunch of smaller issues such as allowing the first goal of the game and letting in crucial goals at either the start or end of a period.

But they still haven’t been consistent all year.

Here’s the question Wilbert. With the talent that this team has, we can assume that missing the playoffs isn’t going to be an option for Kyle Dubas and the rest of the organization. With that being known, when would be the right time for the team to pull the trigger and make a move to shake up the roster, if at all?

Wilbert: “The right time is already here. Why wait? After the season, they will certainly lose some players in free agency; Barrie, Ceci, Muzzin. Why waste the year you have these players by not going all in for the win.

You don’t have to dominate the season to win in the playoffs, look at Tampa Bay, they dominated the regular season only to be left disillusioned by Columbus after 4 games. 

Qualifying gives you a shot to win a cup, from which spot doesn’t really matter. To win it all, you have to beat them all. 

There are enough assets that can be moved to get a good rental, no that doesn’t include Nylander. Players like Ceci, Kapanen could be the main part of a package to bring in a rental.”

TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 25: Jake Muzzin #8 and Travis Dermott #23 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skate against Jack Eichel #9 of the Buffalo Sabres during the second period at the Scotiabank Arena on February 25, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)

Buffalo Sabres

Wilbert: The Buffalo Sabres, much like last year, started the season red hot. And again, much like last year, when people were close to being convinced it was legit this time, they dropped the ball.

They lost a key player in Dahlin, who’s out indefinitely with a concussion along with Okposo, who is out due to his 4th concussion in 3 years.

Sitting third in the Atlantic, holding a playoff position, it’s not an accomplishment by Buffalo. It’s mere luck the teams from the Atlantic all post mediocre results. With 31 points and a record of 13-11-5 they wouldn’t be holding a playoff spot in any other division, not even a wildcard spot.

Like Boston, the Buffalo Sabres count on their top line, lead by Jack Eichel, to generate their offense.

However, aside from Skinner, they lack secondary scoring depth. On nights the Eichel line doesn’t produce, the Sabres lose.

Alex, with the team depending heavily on the talent of Eichel, do you think Eichel can finally lead his Sabres to the playoffs?

Alex: “I don’t think so. Not this season anyways. But they’re almost there.

The Buffalo Sabres have perhaps the longest-lasting rebuild in the NHL right now. They’ve missed the playoffs for eight seasons in a row, and despite lots of high draft picks, they haven’t been able to turn those into on-ice results.

The way I see it, the top three in the Atlantic will be a variation of the Bruins, Lightning, and  Toronto Maple Leafs by season’s end. And outside of those three, I think the Panthers have the most legitimate shot at making the show this year.

Having said that, Jack Eichel is on another level this year. Rasmus Dahlin has taken a step forward. And having Victor Olofsson lighting the lamp the way he has been has done wonders for them. In the end, it’s only a matter of time before he gets there.”

Wilbert: The Montreal Canadiens are a difficult team to place, they’re not great, but they make up a lot by playing hard every night.

They fight for every inch on the ice and grind for every puck in the corners. This spirit is perhaps perfectly embodied by Max Domi.

The Canadiens have been plagued with injuries in November, losing star forward Jonathan Drouin (8 weeks), Paul Byron (4 weeks), and Victor Mete (2 weeks).

The Canadiens have been struggling with their goaltending the whole season, Carey Price is having a difficult start to the season with a 0.899 save percentage and has never been his old self after signing his 84 million dollar contract.

Backup goaltender Kinkaid wasn’t delivering as well and was replaced by prospect Cayden Primeau just a few days ago.

What do you think, Alex, that the Montreal Canadiens are missing right now that could make them serious contenders to battle for a playoff spot?

Alex: “The first and most obvious answer here is a new coach.

You said it perfectly Wil, they don’t ooze talent, but they make up for it by playing hard each and every night.

But if you play hard every night and lose nine games in a row, then the problems likely stem deeper than the players. 

In terms of the team, however, the Habs need a good left-handed defenseman as well as a true elite player to push them over the top. Max Domi and Brendan Gallagher are great, but you don’t want those guys to be your best players.

The Habs simply lack somebody like a Connor McDavid, or an Auston Matthews, or an Alex Ovechkin who lead by example. They’re close, but not there yet.”

Ottawa Senators

Wilbert: Sitting 7th in the Atlantic Division with a record of 12-16-1, the Ottawa Senators are matching expectations.

They are slowly trying to rebuild from the ground up, developing prospects and setting their blueprint for the following years.

The Senators struggle most offensively, they sith 25th in the league in goals for with 76 goals, below the league’s average of 86.

Their struggles to score goals are perhaps even worse on the powerplay, only having a success rate of 9,89%, sitting last in the league.

It’s not surprising, considering Connor Brown is playing on their first line leading the team in both goals and points total. While absolute valuable to a team on the third/fourth line, expecting more from Ottawa offensively while they play Brown and Pageau on their first line is unreasonable.

With Brady Tkachuk and Thomas Chabot as their core pieces forward, there’s potential to this group. Alex, looking at their prospect pool, are the Senators close to become a playoff contending team in the Near future?

Alex: “I would personally give the Senators at least three years before they’re contending. They’re on the right track, and I’ll give them credit by saying they’re doing much better than I thought they would be this year. But with that being known, a team with J.G. Pageau, Anthony Duclair, and Connor Brown as the leading scorers shouldn’t be anywhere near the playoffs.

Having said that, they’ve got a nice prospect pool. And having a defensive core led by Thomas Chabot and Erik Brannstrom is a good start. But the big question mark in my eyes is in the goal crease.

Craig Anderson is a few years away from retiring while Anders Nilsson is already 29 and hasn’t ever held a starting job in the league. Mads Sogaard looks like a nice goaltending prospect so far, but he’s at least three years away from making his NHL debut, let alone becoming a starter in the league. 

Overall, they’re not close. But they’re on the right track. If they keep adding quality prospects (and maybe even ditch their owner) then they’ll be in the dogfight eventually.”