How the Current Maple Leafs Stack Up Against the 1993 Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs may have their best team since 1993.
The Toronto Map Leafs currently lead the NHL’s Canadian Division and are in the running for their first ever President’s Trophy. At the recent NHL Trade Deadline, the Leafs added one of the biggest pieces available in Nick Foligno, and seem poised to have their greatest season in decades.
April of 1993: Construction begins in Cleveland on what is now the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Drew Bledsoe is drafted by the New England Patriots with the number one pick; the Ottawa Senators obtain their first ever NHL road victory after 38 failed attempts and, perhaps most importantly of all, Chuck Norris’ classic show, “Texas, Walker Ranger” makes its series debut
Oh yea, and one more interesting item of note: The Toronto Maple Leafs were actually on the path to a long and entertaining playoff run (I can’t quite remember how it ended though. I do know it Kerry’d on quite a legacy. And that the bad sentiments haven’t yet Wayne’d).
So as we head into the 2021 postseason with a mixture of high expectations and bubbling trepidation, let’s take a look at how the current incarnation of the Maple Leafs squad compares to that of the 1993 one (and please shout out if anyone can remember how those playoffs ended; I think it had something to do with the television debut of Fraser).
1993 Toronto Maple Leafs
Centre
Doug Gilmour’s second season with the Maple Leafs was an unabashed success as he totaled 127 points in 83 games, picked up a Selke trophy and finished directly behind Mario Lemieux in Hart voting (all stats are from Hockey-Reference) .
John Cullen was picked up a couple of months into the season from Hartford for a 2nd rounder to give the Leafs another threat down the middle and he responded with 13 goals and 41 points in 47 games.
Peter Zezel and Dave McLlwain rounded out the top four (although the latter would eventually lose time to Mike Eastwood come playoff time), with Zezel, in particular, adding strong two-way value.
Left Wing
In February of 1993, and barely more than a year after he stole Gilmour out of Calgary, Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher pulled the trigger on another absolute robbery of a deal by picking up Dave Andreychuk, Darren Puppa and the number 12 overall pick, which turned out to be Kenny Jonsson, for a scuffling Grant Fuhr and a 5th round pick (nhltradetracker.com). Andreychuk would score 25 goals in the next 31 games and Fuhr would Toskala-his-way to an .886 save % in 64 total games across three seasons for Buffalo.
Fan favourite Wendel Clark (10 goals, 20 points in 21 playoff games), the highly-underrated Mike Krushelnyski (who could also play centre) and Bill Berg made up the rest of the left side.
Right Wing
Nikolai Borschevsky was drafted as a 27 year-old, scored 34 goals and 74 points in his rookie season in 1992-93 and was out of the NHL at 31, just after the 1995-96 season. Still, what a year he had in 93.
Glenn Anderson had a nice season as well, with 22 goals and 65 points in 76 games. Rob Pearson also had his best year in the NHL this year, scoring 23 goals, before falling off in the playoffs and eventually exiting the league by the time he was 26 (Okay, not all 12 overall picks can be a Kenny Jonsson). Mike Foligno, who had a very solid post-season, and Mark Osborne provided extra depth at the position.
Defense
Maybe it was because there was no elite #1, Norris-caliber defenseman on the roster but it’s easy to forget how strong and capable this group was. Todd Gill and Dave Ellet were top-notch two-way defensemen who both hit the 40-point plateau (in just 70 games).
Bob Rouse, Sylvain Lefebvre and Jamie Macoun didn’t contribute much offense but all were very effective defensive players. And Dimitri Mironov was no slouch either. He excelled at both ends of the ice and ultimately amassed 9 goals and 21 points in 38 career playoff games with Toronto.
Goaltending
The emergence of 21 year-old rookie Felix Potvin paved the way for Fletcher to pull off that ridiculously lopsided Andreychuk acquisition and Potvin, with the starter reins at his disposal, didn’t disappoint.
His GAA was 2.50, compared to Fuhr’s 3.13 and he finished with a .910 save % (Fuhr’s had been .895). Potvin also had a GSAA (goals saved above average) of 32, roughly 4 times better than Fuhr’s (For reference, Frederik Andersen has never had a GSAA above 15).
Darren Puppa wasn’t a factor in the playoffs but he did put up nice numbers in the regular season in the back-up role, going 6-2 with a .922 save %.
2021 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Centre
Auston Matthews, with 32 goals in 40 games, is scoring on a pace this season that would put him in the top-three for goal scoring…in 1992-1993. That was a season that featured eleven 40-goal scores, nine 50-goal scores, three 60-goals scorers and two 70-goal scorers. Last year, five players hit the 40-goal plateau. And nobody else eclipsed that. Yep, Matthews is having a spectacular season.
John Tavares steps into the John Cullen role, leaving the likes of Pierre Engvall, Alex Kerfoot and Jason Spezza (for faceoffs) to fill in for Zezel, McLlwain and Eastwood. The latter three didn’t do so well in the 93 playoffs (combined 3 goals, 3 assists, minus-11 in 34 total games played) so the bar is set pretty low and any one of Engvall, Kerfoot or the newly acquired Riley Nash has a prime opportunity to make a splash come May.
Left Wing
If Ilya Mikheyev could score on only a fraction of his seemingly endless breakaway and point-blank chances then he would most likely be approaching Andreychuk-esque numbers this year. Unfortunately, Mikheyev has managed just six goals and has been stoned more often than a Vancouver college student.
At least Zach Hyman is bringing it. He has been a force on the top line and while he’s no Andreychuk, he may be able to fill in as a sort of Clark-lite. Sunday night’s acquisition of Nick Foligno, who should slide somewhere in the top-six and add elite defensive and physical elements to complement all of that skill, was sorely needed, despite the high cost. Alex Galchenyuk andJoe Thornton give the Leafs really nice depth here as well.
Right Wing
The 2021 Leafs may be lacking some scoring on the left side but things just may be all right. Mitch Marner sits in a three-way tie for 4th in league scoring with 54 points in 44 games and the often maligned (but now confined) William Nylander, with 30 points in 39 games, is still tied for the most points of any player with similar ice-time (16:23 or less) this year (Flyer Joel Farabee has 30 points in 16:14).
Wayne Simmonds and the surging Jason Spezza are veteran players who have the capacity to play some meaningful playoff minutes. This is a very strong group.
Defense
It’s been so many years since I have been able to say this with a straight face: The Toronto Maple Leafs have a good defense.
There aren’t any glaring weak spots or albatrosses. T.J. Brodie has been the epitome of steadiness and consistency; Justin Holl has looked like a top-four defenseman almost all year and Jake Muzzin is a smart, grizzled, physical veteran, which can also be said verbatim for Zach Bogosian.
Morgan Rielly is on pace for over 50 points and is eating up nearly 24 minutes per game while Travis Dermott is a perfectly adequate #5. Ben Hutton, acquired from the Ducks at the deadline, provides quality depth and may challenge Dermott for that #5 spot. He averaged over 18 minutes this year and is a decent asset on the penalty kill.
Goaltending
Jack Campbell recently won his 10th straight start, eclipsing the consecutive win mark set by none other than Felix Potvin in his 1993-94 campaign and has just set a record with his 11th straight win, after beating the Sens Saturday night.
Campbell has played in only 13 games all season and owns a GSAA of 5, to complement a .922 save % and a 2.19 GAA. Quite frankly, Campbell has been mm mm GREAT, although he’s scuffled recently and may still be an injury risk. His back-up will now be David Rittich, another Leafs trade deadline acquisition, who has put up decent numbers in multiple starts for the Calgary Flames the last four years. He should be a capable #2 and is a fair bit safer than Michael Hutchinson.
Outlook
Obviously there are limitations when comparing a team nearly 30 years apart in a league that has drastically changed over the course of those years. But, on paper, this 2021 squad should have the tools to at least challenge what the 1993 counterpart accomplished and the path to the Finals will never have so few obstacles again.
Next. Grading the Leafs Trade Deadline Moves. dark
This team is already out of excuses and the future is now so if any of these guys has an internal switch that can engage playoff-Gilmour mode, now is the time to turn that on.