The Toronto Maple Leafs had a fun guaranteed win night.
Much to my surprise and delight, after having seen only a handful of Toronto Maple Leafs games in the last year or so, last night’s intrasquad match was extremely enjoyable to watch.
Then again, I am guessing that watching Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner play against people who are either not in their league (literally) only partially care enough to try and stop them is always going to be fun.
Mitch Marner put on a clinic last night – I lost track of how many goals he should have had, or how many sweet plays he made, but it was a lot. It’s still crazy to me how underrated the Leafs are league-wide when Mitch Marner (a franchise player on all but maybe ten other teams) is their third best player (arguably fourth because Nylander has matched him stat for stat at 5v5 for their careers).
Last night’s game was a fun warmup, and the season begins Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens.
Three Observations from the Scrimmage
Observation Number One:
William Nylander needs to use that sick one-timer in real games. I don’t recall what goal it was or when it occurred, but I do remember Nylander teeing one up on a one-timer that was absolutely disgusting.
Maybe playing on a loaded unit with Matthews kind of prevents him from doing that in real games, or maybe he just really worked on his shot this off-seasaon, but I didn’t even know Nylander was capable of those kinds of one-timers.
If the Leafs switch to the smarter strategy of dividing power-play time, then perhaps this is a weapon that can be added to their arsenal. Either way, Nylander really needs to get shots like that off more often. Last year he lead the NHL in goals in the paint, essentially transforming into a power-forward, and this year, if he can add a Patrick Laine-esque rocket to his game, there is no limit to what he can do.
Observation Number Two:
Nick Robertson’s shot needs to be in the lineup. Yeah yeah, he’s a rookie and all that but come on, Jimmy Vesey? That isn’t lasting long.
The Leafs have a unique situation where they have two first lines and can thus get the Tavares/Nylander combo some easier-than-usual ice time. This is the perfect spot to hide a rookie whose shot is a weapon as it will allow him to be utilized him in the best fashion.
It makes sense to give first crack to players who will be lost on waivers when you try to move them out, but given the goal he scored (and I’m reasonably sure he had two points) you’ve got to play him. I mean, how many players can actually score like that? It’s not many.
Observation Number Three:
It is at least in the realm of possibility that Mikko Lehtonen is the Leafs #1 defenseman by the end of the season. This guy certainly didn’t look like a rookie to my eye. The game featured a lot of people who won’t be in the NHL, but at the same time……..I was impressed.
Lehtonen will play every game he is healthy enough to play, or I will be shocked. He also had two points last night, and I thought he looked great. So that’s what I saw, and I can’t wait until Wednesday. In my opinion the Toronto Maple Leafs would be crazy to sit either player, although I should caution that with no stats at my disposal, I could very well just be overrating a few examples of good play unfairly.