Even before the Toronto Raptors stole the hearts of their city’s success-starved sports fans, the Toronto Maple Leafs were faced with a dilemma: how to disguise the fact that the 2014-2015 regular season was as much about a new management group getting a first-hand read on the team as it was about winning.
This was a season designed more for evaluation than celebration – and good luck planning a parade route around an evaluation. Best-case scenario? The Leafs fluke out a playoff berth and maybe get a round to extend the experiment.
More games equal more data for Brendan Shanahan and Kyle Dubas; more data equals more evidence to answer the question: who are the real Leafs? The team that meekly skated into the night after the Sochi Olympics, or the group that succumbed to the Boston Bruins in an unexpected seven-game series in the 2012-2013 lockout-shortened season?
More NHL on Sportsnet:
Subscribe: Rogers GameCentre Live
Rogers Hometown Hockey | Broadcast Schedule
Sportsnet Fantasy Hockey Pool
The Leafs are just past the mathematical quarter-mark of their 82-game schedule, and as the NHL on NBC’s Eddie Olczyk said on my show on Tuesday that’s a time when teams sit down and do some internal evaluation. It was the case when he was head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins and if the Leafs were to do that, what would they find? Let’s help them …
THE GOOD
• The penalty kill has improved dramatically, from 28th in 2013-2014 (78.4 per cent) to seventh (84.9 per cent.) Through Monday, only the Minnesota Wild (27th last season at 78.5 per cent; sixth this season at 87.5 per cent) had improved their penalty killing as much as the Leafs. Much of that is down to Daniel Winnik and Roman Polak, who are seventh and 11th, respectively, in short-handed ice time per game. Polak could be out for a month due to a foot injury, so keep an eye on this category.
• Forward depth: Trust is very much a game to game (sometimes period to period) thing with Randy Carlyle when it comes to his fourth line, but the acquisitions of Mike Santorelli, Winnik and Richard Panik, the development of Peter Holland and the repatriation of Leo Komarov from the Kontinental League have given the Leafs depth players that can actually be used without being a magnet for penalties. Gone are the days of Frazer McLaren and Colton Orr grasping at opposing players, or getting penned in their own end during their odd shift. Turns out all those people who thought Komarov was a sublime influence on this team two seasons ago were right.
• There are more nights when it’s easy to forget how much money David Clarkson makes than there are nights when it seems to be an issue – which is all to the good. Let’s face it: seven years and $36.75 million is going to go down as an obscene overpayment for a player who is, at most, a third line forward. Let’s see what role he fits into now that Joffrey Lupul and David Booth are due to return; if he can be a complementary forward, he will continue to avoid everyone’s wrath. And if this team ever gets to the playoffs, there will be those who will say that’s when Clarkson gets to earn his money.
• Peter Holland: There’s something in there, that much is certain. Few Leafs have grown into a responsible role this season the way Holland has grown; he has shown a diligence in his own end and the neutral zone that has caught the attention of Carlyle, and is being rewarded.
THE BAD
• Think of the core group of young players on the Leafs: Nazem Kadri (still!), Jake Gardiner, Morgan Rielly. Throw in goaltender Jonathan Bernier, just for argument’s sake. Now ask yourself: which player out of this group has advanced from their previous season? Rielly’s year has been something of a series of stutter-steps, while Gardiner – the darling of possession groupies – continues to be maddeningly capable of mind-numbing miscues. Bernier has played well in back-to-back wins over good competition in the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings, but for a No. 1 goalie his status seems to depend far too much on Carlyle’s “gut.” Kadri … well, what is Nazem Kadri, anyhow? If Carlyle’s job security depends on the evolution of this group, he’s failing.
• Despite being stingier in their past two games, the Leafs are still giving up an average of 33 shots per game, tied for 25th in the NHL. Decreasing the number of shots allowed was one of the stated goals of the Leafs coaching staff, and it’s only a modest improvement from the 35.9 shots per game that left them 30th in 2013-2014.
• The Leafs have allowed more first-period goals (24) than any team except for the Edmonton Oilers, who are god-awful in several different ways. I’ve always believed a slow start reflects directly on a coaching staff – regardless of the sport – since the time before the start of a game is when you should be able to get your players’ attention. Once the game starts and the flow begins, a coach can be forced into being reactive more than proactive. Stuff happens; genies escape from the bottle.
• It’s hard to escape the idea that something isn’t right with this team’s leadership. Hey, when Don Cherry starts wondering what you were thinking when you decided on an apparently ad hoc basis to stop saluting your fans after wins, it’s like losing a seat in a riding your party has held for decades. The issue isn’t what was done; it’s the manner in which it was handled and the eyebrow-raising decision to go back to it after one game. Unless Dion Phaneuf wins a Stanley Cup while he’s here, that episode will be first-paragraph stuff when people sit down to analyze his tenure as Leafs captain.
So there you are. If, like me, you thought the Leafs would be life and death to make the playoffs this season, the first 20-odd games are re-assuring. If you expected more from this team, you’ll find it disappointing. One thing on which both sides can agree: there hasn’t been enough progress.
