The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a lot of trouble, and that trouble is 100% self-inflicted.
Despite his wearing an amulet that proves he did not likely graduate from high school, but in no way actually protects him from anything, ex-Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares has gone down with an injury that will keep him out of the lineup on a week to week basis.
In response the Leafs have called up Frazer Minten who is nowhere close to NHL ready - in his 11 game stint earlier in the season he posted a 40% Expected Goals Rating, and the Leafs absolutely bled high-danger scoring chances when he was on the ice, allowing 31 against and getting only 15.
The Leafs, who already have Auston Matthews playing at less than 100%, will now be without Tavares. Their third line centre, Max Domi, is horrible, and their 4th line centre, David Kampf, is incabable of playing effectively anywhere higher in the lineup due to the fact that he has zero offense in his game.
Before the injury to Tavares, the Leafs were already slumping big-time, they lost three games in a row and are 17th overall in the NHL since their goaltending peaked on December 13th. Since then, they have gotten the 27th best 5v5 goaltending in the NHL and the bottom has fallen out of their game.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Self Inflicted Gunshot Wound to the Groin
The Leafs have two of the best centres in the game, but the bottom of their lineup is absolutely bereft of players who can play that position. When on of Tavares or Matthews is out of the lineup, the Lefas have the worst centre-ice depth in the NHL, and this depth issue is 100% self-inflicted:
- They had $20 million to spend in the off-season, but chose to re-sign Max Domi (defensively terrible; bad at playing centre) and Oliver Ekman Larsson (a waste of money when Mark Giordano played the same role and posted the same numbers for the league minimum, but the Leafs, who already had Timothy Liljegren chose to pay OEL 4 x what he's worth).
- They sent Easton Cowan back to junior without even an audition.
- They made absolutely zero effort to try Mitch Marner or William Nylander at centre, even though this could have solved their biggest issue without using any extra assets or money.
- Brad Treliving refused to make a move - almost any other GM would have - earlier this year when Matthews was injured and the team was forced to try Pontus Holmberg and David Kampf on the second line.
The Leafs are now struggling, their best defenseman and goalie are injured, and now one of only two NHL quality centres that they have is out for weeks. The timing is terrible, and unfortunately, the blame must be placed on the GM who has been nothing short of a disaster since being hired. It's unclear at this point which, but now the Leafs, who already lack cap space and assets to trade, are in the worst possible position to make a trade (it doesn't take a genius to realize they should have been more proactive here).
The Leafs will host the Devils tonight.