Why Wasn’t Nic Petan Already in the Toronto Maple Leafs Lineup?

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Nic Petan two trade deadlines ago from the Winnipeg Jet.

The smartly added Nic Petan and then subsequently re-signed him to a two-year deal.  Petan has always played well when given a chance on the Toronto Maple Leafs, but they’ve rarely given him a chance. 

Making his 2021 debut on Thursday, Petan had a great game that was rightfully overshadowed by Jason Spezza’s eight career hattrick.  No one expected him to go from the AHL to the NHL and skip right over the taxi squad when a) he’d already been on waivers and gone unclaimed and b) the AHL isn’t even playing.

Petan has long been a favorite of the kind of people who look longingly at spread sheets and prefer teams to put skill and not grit on a fourth line.  With the Leafs seeming to want more grit on their roster, the writing seemed to be on the wall as far as Petan and the Leafs went.

And yet, after testing an excessive amount of fourth line combos, Sheldon Keefe finally struck gold on Thursday with the Travis Boyd, Jason Spezza, Nic Petan line.   I should think you’ll see it again tonight, and hopefully, quite a bit going forward.

Still, as much as I like Petan, the Leafs are just insanely deep and you can’t blame them for losing him in the shuffle.  That said, this is a guy who always plays well, never hurts the team and absolutely destroys the AHL.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Nic Petan

When Petan made his season debut against Vancouver on Thursday, he became the 25th different player to play for the Leafs this year so far.

In his debut, he played 11 minutes of 5v5 hockey, the team put up positive results in every category when he was on the ice (goals, shots, scoring chances etc.) and he had an assist to go along with an expected goals rating of 70%. (Naturalstattrick.com).

Whenever he’s played, he’s played well, and it’s only a quest for more grit that has cost him time in the lineup.  The stats Petan has put up in his Leafs career are excellent: 57% Corsi (puck possession) and his shot and scoring chance differentials are also excellent.  When he plays, the Leafs are expected to come out on top.

The problem is, he rarely plays.

This is his third season with the Leafs and he’s played in just 22 games.  In those games he has just one goal and four assists, and since he’s on the fourth line and doesn’t hit or usually make a lot of memorable plays, he tends to go unnoticed.  For most Leafs fans, if you bring up Petan, they think of a small skill-only guy who brings no grit to a fourth line and can’t play higher in the lineup.  Thanks, but no they say.

Still, he crushes the AHL and is way too good for that league.  He’s an NHL player, and I think he’s got a lot more to give the Leafs than we’ve seen so far.  I hope he can win Keefe over and become a regular, though he will be in tough with Vesey, Robertson, Thornton, Simmonds, Barabanov, Boyd, Anderson, Spezza and Engvall all fighting for 5 spots worth of ice time ice time.