One Cup might lead to another
It’s going to be a challenge for Laurence Gilman to improve on this.
Gilman, in case you missed it, was added to the front-office staff of new Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas last week, and will essentially be the replacement for Dubas. The primary part of that job has been running the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, and that will be a key component of Gilman’s new post, something he’s done before with other NHL teams.
But if you think Dubas has big shoes to fill in replacing Lou Lamoriello, after Lamoriello guided the Leafs from 30th to seventh overall, Gilman may have an even more daunting job. He’ll have to improve upon, or at the very least maintain, the excellence of the Marlies, a team that swept aside a very good Lehigh Valley squad in the Eastern Conference final on the weekend to reach the Calder Cup final, which starts Saturday.
Coming off an outstanding 54-18-2 regular season despite being frequently raided by the Maple Leafs for lineup reinforcements, the Marlies have been even better in the postseason. Getting Travis Dermott and Andreas Johnsson back from the Leafs helped, but for the most part this stingy, Sheldon Keefe-coached squad has been getting by just fine with the players it used all season, notably star goalie Garret Sparks.
The Marlies now have a chance to win the city’s first pro hockey championship since 1967, and they should attract a fair chunk of attention while trying to do it. The Blue Jays are mediocre and Toronto FC just can’t seem to get any traction in their MLS regular season after expending a great deal of effort to try and win the CONCACAF Champions League.
Right now, the Marlies are surely worth watching. If you’re wondering if there are players on the team who could help the Leafs going forward, the answer is very much “yes.” Sparks is ready for NHL work. Timothy Liljegren, the team’s first-round pick last June, is getting lots of minutes alongside Dermott. Johnsson, who scored two goals in the series finale against Lehigh Valley, should be a Leaf next season. Forwards Miro Aaltonen, Freddie Gauthier, Adam Brooks, Mason Marchment and Carl Grundstrom have a chance, as do back-liners Justin Holl and Calle Rosen.
As well, 21-year-old left winger Pierre Engvall was a late-season addition from Sweden and has been a surprisingly strong player for Keefe in the post- season. He’s a big body and can skate, possibly a perfect replacement for Leo Komarov.
That’s the point of all this, after all. A championship would be nice, sure, but this is about trying to develop players to help the Leafs win a Stanley Cup, not lining the trophy case with Calder Cups.
Six years ago, the Leafs’ farm club made it to the Calder Cup final under head coach Dallas Eakins. It was a pivotal time, the first time you could really sense the organization, then run by Brian Burke, was making a determined commitment to its minor-league operation. Before that, the Leafs traditionally had weak farm clubs that didn’t help the parent club very much, at least partly because the organization put unprepared teenagers directly into the NHL year after year .
Symbolic of that change in organizational philosophy was the fact that Nazem Kadri, despite cries of outrage from some corners, stayed with the Marlies most of that season. He played 48 regular-season games and 11 more in the playoffs before getting hurt. It’s easy to look back now and see that season as a key building block in Kadri ultimately becoming the 30-goal shooter and defensively responsible centre the Leafs have today.
That Marlies team wasn’t loaded with future stars. Jake Gardiner was there for the playoffs. Joe Colborne, Ben Scrivens, Korbinian Holzer and Matt Frattin went on to play in the NHL for different periods of time.
Their opponents, Tampa Bay’s farm club, were a very different story. Coached by Jon Cooper, the Admirals had Ondrej Palat, Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Cory Conacher — players still with the team today. Richard Panik, Radko Gudas, Mike Kostka and Mark Barberio were also on that extraordinary Norfolk club, which rolled through the regular season and playoffs like a machine. The Admirals won a pro-record 28 straight at one point, and then 15 of 18 in the post-season, including four straight over the Marlies to take the championship.
When you consider the Lightning have been to a Stanley Cup final and two conference finals since, with many of those Norfolk players in important roles, it’s not hard to understand the value of fruitful minor-league operations.
Perhaps we’ll look back on this Marlies team in a similar fashion a few years from now. Already, Dermott and Kasperi Kapanen graduated to play key minutes with this year’s Leafs in the regular season and playoffs. There’s been a commitment under Dubas to keep top picks such as Liljegren and Grundstrom there, and you’ll remember that William Nylander, the eighth overall pick of the 2014 draft, spent big chunks of two seasons in the AHL. In the coming weeks, Nylander is expected to sign a massive new NHL contract. Being a Marlie sure didn’t hold him back.
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were able to skip the AHL step, proving not all players need to be treated exactly the same. But having a sturdy farm operation to nurture most of your young talent is arguably more important in the salary-cap era because of the need to have affordable NHL-quality reserves.
The Marlies have been that for the Leafs. Now all Gilman has to do is keep the ball rolling.