Toronto Maple Leafs: 4 Players Who Benefit from the Long Break

Over the past eight months, the Toronto Maple Leafs have only played six games.

When the NHL went on pause on March 12th, the Toronto Maple Leafs went  140 days between their last game against the Lightning and their first exhibition game back against the Canadiens. Toronto was off for 20 weeks and in that period, a couple of key members of their lineup were able to rehab significant injuries and return to full health in time for the playoffs.

Jake Muzzin and Ilya Mikheyev both suffered serious injuries during the 2019-20 regular season and there were doubts as to whether they would be able to dress for the Leafs come the start of the 2020 playoffs. The two players put in the effort day in and day out and were able to make it back in time for Leafs come opening night.

With another 145 days from game five against the Columbus Blue Jackets until the start of the 2021 season, assuming the NHL returns January 1st, a new group of key Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have the same opportunity as Muzzin and Mikheyev did to rest their bodies, and minds   and return at 100%.

And with that, let’s head onto our list.

Joe Thornton

While he was not the Toronto Maple Leafs most important signing – that distinction goes to TJ Brodie –but he was easily the most high-profile acquisition Kyle Dubas made this offseason.

Luring the veteran of 22 NHL seasons away from the San Jose Sharks was never going to be an easy task. It took a communal effort to sell the 41-year old on coming home to Toronto and chase a cup with the Leafs.

But, as everyone would come to point out, signing Joe Thornton brought a significant question along with it – can Thornton still play? As the game continues to get younger and faster, being on the wrong side of 40 is not an enviable position to be in. Heck, even being on the wrong side of 30 and you are probably not going to get the payday you thought you might have deserved.

Think about this – last season, there were only three players 40+ to suit up for at least one game. Those players were Zdeno Chara, Patrick Marleau, and Thornton. That is it. Being 40+ and contributing at a high level in today’s NHL is a rarity.

With a lot of miles on Thornton’s body, the decline will not be a gradual drop. It is steep and it is sudden. However, there is one thing working in his favour – by the time the season starts up again, Thornton will have gone 9 months and 21 days since his last game action. That is a lot of time for the London, Ontario native to rest his ageing body and get back to full health in time for next season.

Frederik Andersen

Ever since the June 2016 trade that saw the Toronto Maple Leafs acquire their future starting goaltender, no one has started more games or faced more shots against than the Leafs netminder (stats NHL.com).

Previous Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock refused to play any goalie other than Andersen unless it was the second half of a back-to-back. As a result, in Andersen’s first three seasons with the team, he started 66, 66, and 60 games, way too much for any goaltender in today’s NHL. But every regular season, Andersen continued to answer the bell. Take a look at Andersen’s stats from 2016-17 until the 2018-19 season (stats; hockey-reference).

2016-17: 2.67 GAA and .918 SVP

2017-18: 2.81 GAA and .918 SVP

2018-19: 2.77 GAA and .917 SVP

That model of consistency was vital to Toronto’s success due to their leaky defense, however, those excessive amounts of starts caught up to Andersen, where he constantly found himself burned out by the time the playoffs arrived. The squeaky goals the Dane was able to stop during the regular season seemed to fool him by the time the situations become more important.

This past season was Andersen’s first in which he was not able to perform to the normal standards he had previously set out for himself. Those taxing games appeared to have taken a toll on his play, leaving Andersen unable to be the rock in net Toronto desperately needed.

But alas, Freddy was given a four and a half month break in between the Leafs last game against the Lightning and game one against the Blue Jackets, where he showed how dominant he can be with ample time off. Posting a 1.84 GAA and a .936 SVP, Andersen enjoyed his best playoff series as a member of the Blue and White.

With another couple of months until the start of the 2020-21 season, expect Andersen to further rest his body in order to return to full form and dominate Toronto’s crease once again.

Mitch Marner

Mitch Marner is a very interesting addition to this list. For one, he is in a completely different position than any of the three guys before him. He is almost half the age of Thornton (23 vs. 41), not nursing a nagging injury like Simmonds, and has not had to endure the taxing miles and grueling game action like Andersen.

His inclusion on this list is for one reason: his contract. As everyone is aware, Marner and his family alike went through an exhausting contract negotiation with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs last offseason, causing the former London Knight to miss the start of training camp.

Marner’s name was being constantly dragged through the mud and anyone who has ever played for the Toronto Maple Leafs can attest to the fact this market can be very toxic sometimes.

It was clear the situation stayed with Marner throughout the whole season, significantly dampening his play. Add in the fact he suffered a high ankle sprain causing him to miss 11 games of the season, and the recipe for Marner to have a down season was easy to see. Though it was only a down season in the sense that  he failed to build on the previously seasons breakout –  he did afterall score at a prorated rate equal to the previous season’s 90+ points.

After the break, Marner looked great in the Leafs return to play. He was dancing around the ice, creating plays left and right for his teammates, however, looking at the box score, he only registered four assists during the five-game series.  You can’t really blame him though, the team shot under 2% which is among the lowest ever recorded shooting percentages in a playoff series.  In fact, considering the shooting percentage of the team, four points was extremely good production.

This substantial time off will allow Marner to dismiss the season that was, forget the debilitating contract talks, train and refine his game, and come back in 2020-21 ready to prove he was worth the almost $11 million investment.

While the little hockey action over the past several months has been a sight for sore eyes for hockey fans, a silver lining is that with such rested players and them itching to get the season started, we might be in for some of the best hockey we have ever seen come January.