Zeroing in on the Leafs’ areas of focus
Parts of game need addressing before playoffs
We’re down to 18 games remaining in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ schedule.
Nine at home. Nine on the road.
And all in a span of 35 days once the Leafs and Flyers meet in Philadelphia on Thursday night.
There’s lots of hockey left until Toronto’s regular season ends in Tampa Bay against the Lightning on April 17.
Barring a collapse or a surge in the standings — don’t bet on either — the Leafs will wind up where they are now, in third place in the Atlantic Division, and will start the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs in Boston against the Bruins or in Sunrise, Fla., against the Florida Panthers.
The Leafs are on pace for what would be their third consecutive season with at least 100 points.
Still, there are some areas that require addressing before the playoffs.
Here are four of them:
SETTLING ON A NO. 1 GOALTENDER
The Leafs set it up last week so Joseph Woll would start both games against the Bruins. It didn’t go well for the netminder or the team, as Toronto lost each match 4-1.
Woll won his first start after he missed nearly three months in his recovery from a sprained ankle, beating Arizona on Feb. 29. If he has true designs on being the guy once the playoffs start, stringing together several victories has to start happening.
Truth is, if Ilya Samsonov keeps playing the way he has been since putting his game back together, Woll can take all the time he needs to get on track.
Since Jan. 21 — Samsonov’s second start after a stint away from his teammates while he worked with the organization’s goalie coaches and development staff — the 27-year-old is 12-20 with a .913 save percentage.
Samsonov is making it clear he should be the guy in net for Game 1 of the first round. Let’s see if Woll can throw some doubt into that.
FIRMING UP THE TOP LINE
Once Mitch Marner returns from a lower-body injury after he appeared to hurt his right leg in Boston, put him back alongside Auston Matthews.
It’s the left side on the top line, and isn’t it always, that is open for debate. We’ve liked how rookie Matthew
Knies has handled himself with Matthews and Marner, even if his point production — 11 goals and 15 assists in 62 games — isn’t high. Against top competition, Knies has held his head above water, and that will serve him well in the future.
The other option for coach Sheldon Keefe is Tyler Bertuzzi. He’s getting a look now, as Marner recovers, with Matthews and William Nylander. Bertuzzi could make amends in the playoffs for what has been, so far, a season of underachievement
with 12 goals and 17 assists.
It’s great that Bertuzzi was sharp in the playoffs for the Bruins last spring, though it’s a tiny sample size. Those seven games in the first round, in which Bertuzzi had 10 points, represent his only NHL post-season experience since he broke in with Detroit in 2016-17.
Of the Leafs skaters who have something to prove as the regular season winds down, Bertuzzi heads the list.
There’s more at play among the forwards. Does
Max Domi stay on the wing, or will he be moved back to centre? Can captain John Tavares perform at his best with neither Marner nor Nylander on his right side? Coach Sheldon Keefe will continue to move his pieces around the board, but can’t wait until the final week to settle.
CEMENTING THE DEFENCE PAIRS
“We’ve got to do it by committee.”
Those were the words of general manager Brad Treliving, speaking of his defence corps, after the NHL trade deadline on Friday. It’s true, and it’s not exactly a comment that fills one with confidence.
We like what Joel Edmundson can bring with net-front nastiness, but does anyone really think the Bruins or Panthers will be intimidated to the point that they won’t venture into that area? Will Edmundson make it difficult to the point that the Bruins or Panthers won’t score when he is on the ice?
Never mind that for now. Keefe has some time to decide where Edmundson and fellow newcomer Ilya Lyubushkin fit best.
Lyubushkin will get a long look with Morgan Rielly, and though Edmundson started his Leafs tenure with Timothy Liljegren, that could change. Edmundson can be a playoff warrior. Liljegren, well, no one can say for sure.
Simon Benoit has shown that he can be a dependable option, and though he was scratched in Montreal so Edmundson could make his debut, we don’t imagine Benoit will be idle for long. Mark Giordano will get another shot once he is activated off LTIR, potentially later this month.
Fact is, the Leafs have a lot of depth defencemen. Outside of Rielly, they don’t have a group that has a definitive top four every night.