Prediction #9:
Pierre Engvall Takes Kasperi Kapanen’s spot on the Leafs 3rd line.
What Actually Happened: Undetermined.
With the departure of Kapanen this offseason, Sheldon Keefe is not short on potential replacements for the Leafs third line. We can reasonably expect Alex Kerfoot to centre the third line, but who else is on it is anyone’s guess.
Joe Thornton, Jimmy Vesey, Wayne Simmonds, Nick Robertson, Alexander Barabanov, and Engvall are all looking to make an impact and make their case to the coaching staff as to why they belong higher in the lineup over their teammates. All six seem to have compelling arguments as well.
It is also not impossible that someone beats out Zach Hyman or Ilya Mikheyev for a spot in the top six and one of those guys ends up the third line. Basically, the Leafs have almost unlimited options.
Vesey has prior chemistry with Kerfoot. Simmonds has the resume of being a great goal scorer and also a prominent physical threat. Robertson is the offensive wunderkind, who lit up the OHL. Barabanov was the highly coveted KHL free agent, who has experience playing alongside Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Kuznetsov in international play. Engvall is undoubtedly the fastest of the bunch and easily the most defensively responsible.
Keefe also has the option of mixing and matching the third line trio based on the Leafs opponent or whatever point in the game they are in. Whichever way you look at it or however you would like it to play out, expect this battle to come down to the wire with little headway in between now and the start of the season.
Prediction #10:
Alex Pietrangelo signs with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
What Actually Happened: Alex Pietrangelo signed with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Unfortunately, we did not get to see the second biggest Toronto homecoming. Pietrangelo, who is one of the best defensemen in the game today, would have been the perfect fit alongside Leafs #1 defensemen Morgan Rielly. The King City native is a right-shooting, minute eating, all situations defensemen, with Stanley Cup experience and leadership qualities that do not come by very easily.
In the end, Toronto Maple Leafs management was unable to make the money work in terms of fitting Pietrangelo’s contract under the salary cap, however, Brodie is not just a consolation prize.
Back in June, I published an article detailing why I believed TJ Brodie and the Leafs were a match made in heaven. So, when the news broke of the Chatham, Ontario native and his hometown team agreeing to a contract, I was extremely pleased by the move.
In January of 2019, Sportsnet released an article trying to identify the league’s best defensive defensemen. Brodie was named in the top 10, with the authors citing his monstrous ability to remove the puck from his opponents. Furthermore, Brodie’s play driving is excellent, specifically, his expected goals against suppression, ranking in 89th percentile league-wide (stats; mapleleafshotstove.com).
Similarly, Brodie ranks in the 85th percentile in heavy ice time facing elite forwards (stats; mapleleafshotstove.com) and logs a ton of minutes in the defensive end – for his career Brodie has started 52% of his faceoffs in the defensive end. For what it is worth, Toronto’s best defensive defensemen, Jake Muzzin, has started 52% of his faceoffs in the defensive end in his career with Toronto (stats; hockey-reference).
Brodie is also quite adept at creating opportunities for his teammates as he ranks in the 97th percentile and the 91st percentile in secondary assist and estimated shot assists rates respectively (stats; mapleleafshotstove.com).
Overall, this offseason has been a tremendous success for Dubas and Co. With still a couple more months until (likely) the opening night of the 2020-21 season, all we can do is fantasize about how much of an impact these new additions will make.