REASONS FOR LEAFS TO HAVE CONCERN
All looks rosy right now, but potential pitfalls are out there
Winners of nine of the past 10, with a playoff coronation awaiting and the whole town looking forward to a long spring … these appear to be high times for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
But there is the not-so-minor matter of 23 remaining regular season games with some potential pitfalls along the way. Here’s what Toronto still has to watch out for in February and March:
Mike Babcock was hardly doing joyful cartwheels en route to the podium on Wednesday, despite a 6-3 win over Columbus that capped a franchise-best fivegame sweep of a home stand.
The coach wasn’t just being his usual fussbudget self about minor miscues, he was staring at a game sheet with a damning 57 shots against and 26 giveaways by his team, both stats in stark contrast to the Blue Jackets. Frederik Andersen’s 53 saves and Nazem Kadri’s five-point night were features of the victory.
Part of Wednesday’s shot fest could be traced to missing defenceman Jake Gardiner for the last two periods. He had lower-body spasms and was to be evaluated before a return to work Friday was approved.
The Leafs are hovering around 75 man-games lost to injury, still blessed compared to a lot of other teams. But should the unthinkable happen — a longterm casualty to one or two core players — it will require a big test of depth.
For the second-straight year, the Leafs go into the NHL trade deadline as buyers, not fire-sale liquidators. But the Leafs are at an interesting stage of their rebuild.
Does GM Lou Lamoriello skip a few pages in the Shana-plan and go for the gold, an intention already signalled by the summer acquisition of Patrick Marleau?
Or does he figure there has been enough organic growth through the play of defenceman Travis Dermott and winger Kasperi Kapanen to hold off a significant trade.
A 20-point cushion for a playoff spot is something not enjoyed by the Leafs since the Pat Quinn years and even those teams could not officially clinch until the last week or two of the schedule.
Toronto has a string of games against non-contending clubs and still four to go against the fading Buffalo Sabres, now minus Jack Eichel. Babcock addressed the complacency issue, but admitted it’s often hard to rein in the young horses when the goal light is flashing, the crowd roaring and they get distracted from executing defensively. But that’s what wins in playoffs — and what they’ll need to master.
For all the disruptions chirpy Kadri, chippy Leo Komarov and digger Zach Hyman provide, other teams have seasoned shift disturbers. The last meeting with Boston, which didn’t have the suspended Brad Marchand, showed the Bruins can backcheck, out-draw and win the 50-50 battles as well as the Leafs and muzzle Matthews’ line, for one night at least.