Toronto Maple Leafs: Changes in the Playoff Roster From 2019 to 2020
Almost half of the Toronto Maple Leafs playoff roster from 2018-19 is different this post-season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs made the ‘playoffs’ for the fourth consecutive season this year, but only 11 players remain from last years roster.
Even if they defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets, that technically won’t be a First Round victory, as for the first time in NHL history there are Play-In games before the Round of 16 starts.
Although the core is intact year-over-year, it’s crazy to believe that almost half of the roster is different. Typically this many replacement players would mean a number of injuries but at the moment there is only one injury (Andreas Johnsson) that will keep a player from last years team off this years playoff roster.
There are a lot of benefits that come from having a fresh team heading into the playoffs. The best players (Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, etc.) are back for revenge this post-season, where the fresh faces have no scar tissue from the year before.
Scar tissue can either be good or be really bad.
After losing against Boston in Game 7 in 2018, it felt like that tissue remained as the team couldn’t get past their nemesis losing once again to Boston in their building in 2019.
With every game being played in Toronto, that may give the Leafs a real advantage as they won’t have to worry about a scary Game 7 on the road this post-season.
Let’s look at every player that is new this year, starting with the coaching staff.
Coaching Staff
2018-19: Mike Babcock
2019-20: Sheldon Keefe
Keefe has only coached 47 NHL games but has a record of 27-15-5, which represents a .625 winning percentage.
Going back to 2006-07 when he was the coach of Pembroke Lumber Kings in the CJHL, Keefe’s worst winning percentage year has been .599.
No matter where this guy coaches, his team wins.
He won a championship with the Pembroke Lumber Kings, made it to the Eastern Conference Finals with the Soo Greyhounds and won a Calder Cup with the Toronto Marlies.
Although Keefe is only 39 years old, his hockey background is extensive and as a former NHL player himself, he’s been able to use that to his advantage behind the bench.
At the end of last years playoffs, many fans wanted Babcock fired because of his stubbornness. He never played his best players enough minutes and would put some of his worst guys out at crucial moments.
Babcock’s ways were too old-school for this young Leafs team and it was such a relief to see him go. Having a full training camp prior to starting the playoffs will be a huge advantage for the Leafs this year, as Keefe’s coaching style will benefit the team more than Babcock this off-season.
Although Babcock has the Stanley Cups and Olympic Gold Medals on his resume, Keefe should bring a new energy to the Leafs this playoffs.
Grade: A
Forwards
2018-19: Andreas Johnsson, Nazem Kadri, Trevor Moore, Tyler Ennis, Patrick Marleau, Connor Brown
2019-20: Ilya Mikheyev, Alex Kerfoot, Pierre Engvall, Jason Spezza, Kyle Clifford and either Nick Robertson, Adam Brooks or Denis Malgin
In terms of star-power, Johnsson, Kadri and Marleau are three recognizable names that have been 20-plus goal scorers in the NHL.
Johnsson would have been on this roster but he’s injured so it’s unfair to criticize this year-over-year, so we’ll look more at Kadri and Marleau, essentially getting replaced by Mikheyev and Kerfoot.
Prior to his injury, Mikheyev had 23 points in 39 games and was becoming a great second-line winger. As we’ve seen this year, and especially at the salary he was making before he was bought-out, Marleau is past his prime and wouldn’t have been a serviceable player on this Leafs roster, so Mikheyev is a great replacement.
Although Leafs fans have great memories from Kadri (despite being suspended two years in a row), Kerfoot is actually a fine replacement as the two of them have similar point totals and a similar corsi rating.
The bottom half of Moore, Ennis and Brown aren’t really different in Clifford, Spezza, Engvall and one of either Robertson, Brooks or Malgin.
I think the current roster has the advantage because Clifford has two Stanley Cups and wants to win his hometown, Spezza also will do anything to win a Cup in Toronto and Engvall and either Robertson, Brooks or Malgin would give the same result as either Moore, Ennis and Brown.
Overall, I think this current roster has a slight advantage.
Grade: B
Defense
2018-19: Ron Hainsey, Nikita Zaitsev, Jake Gardiner
2019-20: Justin Holl, Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, Rasmus Sandin
The Leafs defense of Travis Dermott, Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin are all back this year, so the bottom three spots up for grabs.
Justin Holl is a lock because he’s a right-handed defenseman and Tyson Barrie has a high ceiling, so the last spot will come down to Cody Ceci and Rasmus Sandin and I have a feeling that Sandin will it.
In terms of last year’s defense, Hainsey is the one player that I think Leafs fans would love back. He played way too many minutes last season, but in a limited role, he would be a good shut-down defenseman and penalty kill presence that would benefit this team.
As much as I was a bigger fan than most of Jake Gardiner, he had to go. He was making too much money and the fan-base hated him too much that if he returned to a Toronto playoff game this year, Twitter would have exploded.
Maybe it would have worked out in this situation because he couldn’t actually get booed when there’s no fans, but it still wouldn’t make sense for him to be back.
Zaitsev was another player that had a high-stock but fans couldn’t wait to get rid of. As your fifth or sixth defenseman maybe it wouldn’t make that big of a difference, but under Babcock he was averaging more than 20 minutes of ice-time per night, which is way too much for him.
So is the combination of Holl, Barrie, Ceci/Sandin better than Hainsey, Zaitsev and Gardiner?
I think the answer is….Yes.
That may sound hard to believe because the defense has been struggling so much this season, but the defense hasn’t been healthy most of the season and now it is.
Also, last year, Ron Hainsey played the fourth most minutes of any player in Game 7 against Boston and he’s a 38-year-old defenseman.
Those minutes will now go to a heavy-load of Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin. Thank, god.
Overall, as much as it may not seem, this entire Leafs team is in a better spot than they were last season.
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We won’t talk about the goaltending because it stayed the same, so by comparing the coaching, forwards and defense, the Leafs are in a better spot than last year as they get ready for their match-up against Columbus.