Toronto Maple Leafs Playoff Opponent Analysis

With the 2020 playoffs slowly approaching, the Toronto Maple Leafs will begin their run to the Stanley Cup against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

For my birthday last year, my dad, sister, and I went on a road trip to Ohio in the middle of winter to see the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The arena was buzzing with Leafs fans, so much so that our chanting really annoyed the Blue Jackets fans. Our presence and enthusiasm overwhelmed them, something we should hope the Leafs do in the first round.

Although I am sure many Toronto Maple Leafs fans are familiar with the coach of the Blue Jackets, John Tortorella (AKA Torts), they may not be as familiar with their roster.

Per hockey-reference.com, the Blue Jackets finished the season with a 33–22–15 record and placed 4th in the Metropolitan division.

While this is better than their record last season, they lost two key players from last seasons swept of the Lightning, Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky, and suffered multiple injuries to key players.

Another interesting aspect of the Blue Jackets is their size, or lack thereof. The Blue Jackets have two players under 5’9 (although I suspect one is more like 5’7 since the NHL has been prone to boosting players’ stats).

The players on the shorter side, 5’8 Cam Atkinson (12–14–26) and 5’4 Nathan Gerbe (4–6–10), often play key roles in the lineup are an asset to the team.

Since they only played the Toronto Maple Leafs three times during the season, I am here to break down their roster and play.

How the Blue Jackets lineup compares to the Toronto Maple Leafs

Per DailyFaceoffs.com, the Blue Jackets forward lines during the regular season looked like so:

The first line contains Alexander Wennberg (5–17–22) on left wing, Pierre Luc Dubois (18–31–49) as the center, and Emil Benstrom (10–10–20) on right wing.

At the age of 25, Wennberg is the oldest player on the line and most experienced, with Dubois having three seasons under his belt and Benstrom in his rookie year.

The second line for the Blue Jackets contains captain Nick Foligno (10–21–31) on left wing, Boone Jenner (11–13–24) as the center, and Gustav Nyquist (15–27–42) on right wing.

This is perhaps the most experienced line in the Blue Jackets lineup, with all three having over six NHL seasons under their belts.

While playing with the San Jose Sharks in last year’s playoffs, Nyquist became one of their better players after recording 11 points in 20 games.

During this season with the Blue Jackets, Nyquist  often playing on a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Oliver Bjorkstrand (21–15–36) who is Columbus best forward.

This was of course until Bjorkstrand’s injury in February which he is slowly recovering from. If Bjorkstrand returns from injury and returns to his old linemates, they could be one of the most dangerous lines the Leafs will play against.

The third line for the Blue Jackets contains Kevin Stenlund (6–4–10) on left wing, Riley Nash (5–9–14) as the center, and rookie Eric Robinson (7–5–12) on right wing.

The fourth line for the Blue Jackets contains Jakob Lilja (2–3–5) on left wing, Devin Shore (1–1–2) as the center, and Stefan Matteau (2–1–3) on right wing.

It should also be kept in mind that although last season was the first year the Blue Jackets qualified for the second round, none of these three players were on the team then.

Goalies

As is pretty common among goaltenders, they each have had their fair share of injuries during the season.

The Blue Jackets lost a key member of their team when Sergei Bobrovsky signed with the Florida Panthers.

However, the sting of the loss is softened by young superstar Elvis Merzļikins (13–9–8). Although his NHL debut isn’t much to be remembered (a 7–2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins), he picked up his confidence afterward and finished the regular season with a 13–9–8 record.

The seemingly random emergence of Merzlikins allowed the Blue Jackets to have one of the highest 5v5 save percentages in the NHL, a key reason for their mysterious rise in the standings after losing one of the top players in the entire NHL (Panarin) last off-season.

The second goaltender on the Blue Jackets roster is Joonas Korpisalo. Korpisalo who was the Blue Jackets back up when Bobrovsky played with the team.

He was expected to become their starter for the 2019–20 season but he gave up seven goals in his first two starts. After injuring his knee in late December, Korpisalo returned to the lineup as a replacement for Merzļikins who suffered a concussion. Since his return to the lineup, the two goaltenders have alternated the starting position.

As you can see, the Blue Jackets have a decent enough team, but they hve over achieved and are not really a match for the Leafs in a line by line comparison.

The Blue Jackets have one elite forward, and a very strong top four on the blue-line, if healthy.  They have gotten really good goaltending this season, but that is a position that is notoriously inconsistent, and time should see their unsustainable 5th ranked save percentage come down to earth.