When the Toronto Maple Leafs have bad stretches it is easy to be demoralized.
With the current iteration of the Toronto Maple Leafs and its very talented and experienced personnel, it is even more crushing when they don’t perform.
Should hockey woes continue to permeate in downtown Toronto, fans should consider a less aggravating alternative, the American Hockey League.
Toronto’s other professional hockey team and feeder to the Leafs can be a fun pallet cleanser thanks to the young talent putting on impressive displays.
The Best Alternative to the Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Marlies have started the season with a record of two wins and two losses. It’s not overly impressive and it doesn’t have to be. The main goal isn’t always to win a Calder Cup but to develop players so that they are prepared to take their game to the next level and be valuable contributors in the NHL.
For a player like Josh Ho-Sang, he is playing to earn himself a ticket back to the big show. After dazzling in the NHL pre-season, he has continued to keep his foot on the gas as a member of the Marlies. The right-winger has played in three of the team’s opening contests and recorded two goals, one of which was a game winner. Even though he is in the AHL and not the NHL, Ho-Sang has the opportunity to prove his critics wrong through continued play.
While that redemption story is written, an even bigger head turner is the play of center Brett Seney. He has four goals in four games thanks to the dynamic connection he has found playing with Joey Anderson. This is unexpected for Seney, who last season with the Binghamton Devils recorded a total of five goals and five assists in 30 games.
Seney is actually NHL tested. He played 51 games for the New Jersey Devils in 2018-19 and another pair of contests the following season. In total, he managed to collect 13 points on five goals and eight assists. Those numbers aren’t surprising, as the 25-year-old has never been known as a big point producer. Even when he was playing for Merrimack College in the NCAA, his best season saw him score 13 goals and add 19 assists in 32 games. This is why, even though it’s a small sample size, averaging a goal a game is a pleasant surprise.
For those unfamiliar with the Marlies, now is the time to check in. Besides the few highlighted players above, fans can see the raw talent of exciting players such as Pavel Gogolev, Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, Joseph Woll, Nick Robertson, and others.
The Leafs will hopefully turns things around before they find themselves in too deep a hole. For those who are impatient, there’s always the Marlies.