5 Reasons For Toronto Maple Leafs Fans to be Optimistic
Re-Tooled Forward Group Designed for Playoff Hockey
It appeared this past season that Kyle Dubas finally realized that the Toronto Maple Leafs needed more sandpaper in the lineup, particularly up front.
Unfortunately, his trade deadline additions weren’t enough. Ryan O’Reilly played well but apparently wasn’t happy in Toronto, and Noel Acciari was a useful, hardworking winger, but didn’t move the dial when it came to instilling fear in the opposition.
Also, Dubas kept Wayne Simmonds around at least one season too long. Although the “Wayne Train” was well-liked by both teammates and fans, age had taken its toll. Simmonds was no longer effective as an intimidator, or for that matter, even an average fourth line banger.
New GM Brad Treliving quickly changed the dynamic of the Toronto Maple Leafs forward corps. Ryan Reaves gives the team a physical presence that has been sorely lacking for too long. He won’t play much, but he will make opponents think twice before taking liberties with guys who aren’t paid to rough it up. Reaves is also known as someone who will liven up a quiet dressing room.
Tyler Bertuzzi takes over the Michael Bunting role, but with a little more size, skill and toughness, although at 5 x the cost.
Bunting was a good pest until he took his act too far (and I don’t just mean the playoff suspension for knocking Erik Cernak into next week). If the referees dislike you so much that they no longer call penalties on the opposition, well, you aren’t much use any more as a pest.
Finally, Max Domi is another agitator with some skill, who won’t back down from anyone in a skirmish. Domi is one of those players that annoys everyone that plays against him, but is good to have on your side.
Note that both Bertuzzi and Domi were signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs to one year “show me” contracts, so they will be motivated to do just that.
Upside in the Crease
It appears that Matt Murray will not be a Toronto Maple Leaf this fall.
With all of the free agent additions to the roster so far, the Leafs need to shed some significant salary before the season starts, and the easiest way to do that will be to to either trade or buy out Murray.
Although necessary, neither option is particularly appealing, as Treliving may have to sweeten a trade with draft picks, and buyouts are basically wasted cap space (nobody at MLSE cares about the actual cash).
The best thing about a Murray departure would be a full time Ilya Samsonov – Joseph Woll goaltending tandem. Woll showed in 2022-2023 in both the regular season and the playoffs (15 games total, .922 save %) that he’s ready to stay in the NHL. He’s been brought along slowly by the Maple Leafs organization (due in part to injuries and Covid), and appears to have benefitted from the patience. (stats from nhl.com).
Although Woll has limited experience so far at the NHL level, he wouldn’t be the first young goalie to run with the opportunity of more playing time.
Ideally, he will solidify his game and his confidence to the point where he can split the games equally with Samsonov. A team that can turn confidently to either goalie has a distinct advantage over an opponent that has to ride or die with only one solid option in net.
Even if Woll isn’t quite ready to take on half the games, Ilya Samsonov was very good for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, with a career best .919 save % in 42 regular season games. He also continued with his strong play in the playoffs, responding to a big question mark after less than stellar playoff work with the Washington Capitals.
One More Year of Experience
Pessimists will say that the Toronto Maple Leafs crashed out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs once again. Optimists will counter with the fact that Toronto finally broke its 1st round playoff jinx with the series victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In either case, the team gained another year of experience, which can only help in next season’s quest for a championship.
Sometimes a team comes out of nowhere to win a Stanley Cup (hello Vegas Golden Knights), but usually it takes many years for a team to develop what it takes to be a champion.
The Washington Capitals of the Alex Ovechkin era are a prime example.
The Caps lost in the Stanley Cup finals in 1998, then didn’t win a single playoff round until ten years later (Ovechkin was drafted in 2004).
It was another ten years (2018) before the team made it past round 2, and they finally won their first and only Cup that year.
Washington, like the current Maple Leafs squad, was a very good regular season team for ten years before winning the Cup.
They won at least 50 games four times in that period. The core of the team (Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Backstrom, Carlson, Oshie) was together a long time before winning it all.
Whether it’s learning to deal with pressure, learning to adapt to playoff style hockey, or perhaps building a certain camaraderie with teammates, experience can take a team a long way.
Culture Change Can be Good
This has been Kyle Dubas’ team for the last five seasons. Credit to Dubas for building a skilled, high-performing roster. However, there have been times when the culture of the team has been called into question.
Of course none of us know what really goes on in the dressing room, but there have been multiple hints of dysfunction. Rumours suggested that at least part of the reason for Ryan O’Reilly’s decision not to re-sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs was that he didn’t like the atmosphere in the room.
We also had the curious incident earlier in the season when coach Sheldon Keefe called out his top players for lacklustre play, only to do an abrupt reversal in a media scrum shortly afterwards. Speculation was that Dubas coddled his stars too much, and instructed Keefe to walk back his criticism.
Add to that the decision to insert emergency goalie Jett Alexander into the late stages of a blowout win against the Canadiens, a move that Keefe claimed “wasn’t his idea”, and one starts to wonder who was in charge of the bench.
New GM Brad Treliving has not been shy about his preference for a more old-school style of play, one that will have many fans singing his praises. With the new grittier players incoming, there is some hope that the new Toronto Maple Leafs roster will be less soft and more cohesive.
The Shackles Have Been Removed from Coach Sheldon Keefe
As mentioned, it appeared that Sheldon Keefe did not have free reign to do and say what he wanted, particular when it came to the “Big 4”. Kyle Dubas was perhaps too close to the team’s star players. It made Keefe seem like a lame duck at times.
Now that Keefe’s boss is an outsider with no previous loyalty to those stars, one would think that he will now be able to coach as he sees fit.
That likely means more accountability for poor play, and fewer instances where the Toronto Maple Leafs start the game like they just woke up from a long afternoon nap.
Overall, particularly in the regular season, Keefe has done a commendable job, especially if it’s true that he wasn’t always able to coach completely the way he desired.
He has guided the Leafs to a regular season points percentage of .678 over four seasons, which is not only the best result of any Toronto Maple Leafs coach, but also one of the top records in league history.
Although playoff success so far has been elusive (13-17), just like his players, Keefe is still learning. He had much success in the junior ranks with the Pembroke Lumber Kings (CCHL) and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL) before taking over the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and leading them to the Calder Cup in 2018.
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Keefe is a hard worker who generally builds good relationships with his players, and isn’t afraid to try different things in a search for better results. He’s found success at every level. There’s no reason to think he won’t eventually find the ultimate success with the Toronto Maple Leafs.