The Toronto Maple Leafs used a couple of lucky victories and a trip to Sweden to calm things down, but it won’t last.
In fact, if the fan base was a little more savvy and a little less results-oriented, the Toronto Maple Leafs would be going to Sweden under very different circumstances.
Instead, a win in Tampa (not deserved) and two wins against two of the NHL’s worst teams (I don’t care what Vancouver’s lucky record is right now, they are still not a good team) seems to have calmed things down.
I would not expect things to stay calm.
Toronto Maple Leafs Still In Major Trouble, Recent Luck Not Withstanding
The Leafs do seem to have worked out the kinks from the bottom of their forward lines, although all that depends on whether or not they are willing to cut Ryan Reaves.
But their blue-line is a horrible mess, and it can still sink their season.
It would have been interesting, and probably better in the long-run, if the Toronto Maple Leafs had lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning last week.
It would have been the Leafs fifth loss in a row, and some change might have occurred. Instead, Tampa stopped playing and the Leafs managed an unlikely (and harmful) three-goal comeback.
They followed that up with a BRUTAL game against the Ottawa Senators, then by blowing a three-goal lead to the Flames before winning in overtime.
It’s not hard to see how this could have been a seven-game losing streak without the Leafs playing any differently.
They did win against Vancouver, but not convincingly.
This city would have been very fun, had the Leafs lost seven or eight of eight and then booked it out of town.
Instead, everyone seems to have calmed down, which is weird because this is a Cup Contender who has yet to perform like a Playoff Team.
And the best answers I am seeing are to trade for Nikita Zadorov (a useful but average player) Chris Tanev (a useful but average player who is 33) and Patrick Kane (a power-play specialist who hasn’t been a positive force at even-strength for almost a decade).
I wish I could sit here and be positive about this season, but the Leafs best players can’t play much better than they have, and their blue-line just isn’t good enough.
The blue-line can’t be fixed by getting healthy because it doesn’t have any elite players. Timothy Liljegren is a great player and maybe the best they have, but he’s not a top guy.
You can say the same thing about Morgan Rielly.
T.J Brodie is not the same player he was a year ago. Neither is Mark Giordano.
Jake McCabe has been a complete disaster.
John Klingberg, Simon Benoit, William Lagesson and Max Lajoie are not NHL players (i.e this team has NO DEPTH).
And Connor Timmins, I’m a fan of his, but guys his age don’t become impact players very often. When they do, their names (Jose Bautista, Martin St. Louis) end up hanging from rafters. So, you can see how much he is likely to help.
Based on what they have, the Toronto Maple Leafs are right to seek defensive help, but they should probably be shooting a lot higher than the Calgary Flames second pairing.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are in trouble. I don’t know how this isn’t completely obvious to everyone else, but it’s pretty damn obvious.