Toronto Maple Leafs Full of Pleasant Surprises This Season
The Toronto Maple Leafs entered the 2021-22 season with a few unknowns on their roster.
Fans weren’t sure what the Toronto Maple Leafs were getting with many of their depth players. For the most part, the depth players have been a pleasant surprise.
Many fans wondered why Toronto would sign a player like David Kampf for two years or sign the injury-plagued Ondrej Kase? They also wanted to know what management saw in Michael Bunting?
Add those questions to ones that fans had about depth players already on the team like Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev. There were a lot of unknowns at the start of the season, but not anymore.
Each of these players has been a pleasant surprise this season. All of them have exceeded expectations. The good news for Toronto is that out of this group, Mikheyev is the only one who is a UFA this off-season. The others are either signed for next season or are an RFA this off-season.
Toronto Maple Leafs Surprises This Season
With players such as Engvall and Mikheyev, Toronto fans thought they knew what they had. Both players found a new level this season. Mix that with the surprising seasons from the newcomers, and Toronto has been fun to watch.
Ilya Mikheyev
In 2019-20, Mikheyev’s rookie season with the Toronto Maple Leafs was going well until a wrist injury ended his regular season. He recorded eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points in 39 games before getting hurt.
Toronto decided to re-sign Mikheyev to a two-year deal that off-season. Unfortunately for Mikheyev, his second season with the team was marked with injuries and little playing time. It left him feeling underappreciated, and he asked Toronto GM Kyle Dubas for a trade.
Dubas informed Mikheyev that the team would not be accepting his trade request and told him that they still value him on this team. That turned out to be a wise decision by Dubas, as Toronto has benefited from Mikheyev staying.
Mikheyev has turned into a 20-goal scorer this season and has earned the trust of his coaching staff. He will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. So this could be his last season as a Maple Leaf.
Pierre Engvall
Like Mikheyev, this is Engvall’s third season with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has also exceeded expectations this season. Engvall has recorded 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points in 76 games. His previous best was 15 points in 48 games during his rookie season.
His points are impressive, but that’s not all that he brings to this team. Engvall’s play on the penalty kill is a key reason it has been so good this season. He can control the puck in the offensive zone and keep the cycle going.
Due to the improvements in his game, he has earned the trust of the coaching staff. Engvall has seen an increase in his ice time because of this. He has become a vital member of this team as they head into the playoffs next week.
Ondrej Kase
Before his most recent injury, Ondrej Kase was having a good bounce-back season. He only played three games last season for the Boston Bruins due to injury. So fans in Toronto were surprised when the Maple Leafs signed him.
This season he was able to register 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points in 50 games. It is a shame that he got hurt, but Toronto could be getting him back in time for the playoffs. He is an added scoring threat, and during the playoffs, you can never have too many of those.
David Kampf
When the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Kampf to a two-year deal worth $1.5 million a season, fans were left scratching their heads. Why would Toronto pay that much for a guy who only scored one goal in 56 games last season?
It turns out that scoring just one goal last season was a fluke. Kampf has 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points in 80 games. He has played in every game this season, is good at faceoffs, and is a great penalty killer. All of that for $1.5 million looks like a good deal now, and the Leafs have him signed for one more season.
Michael Bunting
Toronto fans knew very little of Michael Bunting, if anything at all.
He played 26 games over two seasons with the Arizona Coyotes, registering 14 points. Bunting signed a two-year deal with Toronto worth $950,000 a season. He is making a name for himself in his first full NHL season and doing it for his hometown team.
Bunting has 23 goals and 40 assists for 63 points in 79 games this season. Those 63 points have him leading all rookies in scoring, and he’s one of the NHL’s top scoring players at 5v5. His style of play, scoring ability, and chemistry with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner earned him a spot on the top line.
Fans didn’t know who would replace Zach Hyman on the top line, but they do now. The line of Bunting, Marner and Matthews is the best trio in the NHL, combining for 264 points. Each of them will be looking to make an impact in the playoffs.
Bunting recently suffered a lower-body injury, and it is unknown how long he will be out. The team is hopeful that he will be ready for the playoffs next week.
When a team adds new players, they do so with the hope that everything works out. For the most part, it has worked out for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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Adding Kampf, Kase, and Bunting has improved the team. Getting good production from Mikheyev and Engvall has improved the team also. I think Toronto finally has the depth to do some damage in the playoffs.