This team can dream
Babcock believes his Maple Leafs are set up for long run of success
TORONTO — John Tavares’s place sounds like a jumble. He has moved back to his hometown, but he hasn’t unpacked. There’s still lots of work to do. He’s a Toronto Maple Leaf, all right.
“Yeah it’s different, very different. My house is still all in boxes, so there’s been a lot of just figuring out what I have and where it is, and trying to get it settled,” Tavares said at the Leafs’ media day Thursday, before one of the most anticipated National Hockey League seasons in decades in this town. “So definitely different, but something I’m looking forward to, and it’s cool, as well.”
That, in a nutshell, is this version of the Leafs. They were already stocked with young talent when they fell to Boston in seven games in the first round in the spring; they added Tavares, an elite centre, in a blockbuster free-agency steal. They have three 30-goal centres. They have offence to burn. They have a front office that is distinguishing itself just by being smart and open-minded, and which has shed their most ponderous players.
They could do something special. They have a chance.
“I think we’re set up real good here for, I don’t know, a five-, seven-year run,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “Anybody who’s been around winning in the National Hockey League knows you need a run. It’s not about one year. It’s about a run. Now, you’re always all-in on the year you’re in. But you need a run. Because not everything goes the way you want it to go all the time.
“We’re excited. I feel like it’s my first year. Now you coach the team. Before, you’re just trying to get the team to a certain level. This is kind of like the Red Wings all over again. Now we have an opportunity. Now, my first year with the Red Wings, we won 58 games and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Those are battle scars you go through. That’s part of life.”
“That’s not your goal. Your goal is to play as long as you possibly can.”
They tied for the league’s sixthbest regular-season record last year, but fell to Boston a year after falling to Washington. Now, though, the Leafs have entered the conversation with the contenders: Pittsburgh, Nashville, Vegas, Winnipeg, San Jose — who on Thursday stole Erik Karlsson from the poor, wandering, doomed Ottawa Senators, a franchise in need of an intervention — and of course, division rivals Tampa Bay and Boston.
They should belong there. There were eight NHL centres with at least 30 goals in each of the past two seasons. Nazem Kadri was one, and he’s behind Tavares and Auston Matthews, who were two of the others.
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s always smart to compare yourself to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin,” said Tavares, when the comparison arose. “The way they’ve been able to feed off one another, have success with one another, push each other, I think those things you can strive for and maybe implement with ourselves. And hopefully we can push each other to help this team get to the top.”
“You see the teams that win each year, like Pittsburgh and L.A. and Chicago, they have depth and it’s the biggest thing they have, especially down the middle,” said Matthews. “It’s pretty hard to find, three centremen of our calibre to match up against.”
It’s not as simple as just showing up, of course. Plenty of teams have had Cup talent and never gotten there. The defence has weak spots, but a full season of Travis Dermott, plus less bangthe-puck-off-the-glass-and-out strategy, should alleviate some pressure. Goaltender Frederik Andersen remains as streaky as they come, and the hot streak has to come at the right time.
The Leafs, meanwhile, have to unpack their boxes and put everything in its right place, on the ice and in the ledger. Babcock has pencilled in his lines, but faces the problem of too many good players.
Matthews was third in the league in points per five-on-five minutes played last year, but wasn’t on the top power-play unit; he wants to have more assists than goals, and says “a lot of that comes, I think, from the power play.” He’d like more ice time, too: He was 71st among forwards in total minutes last season.
“I think everybody wants to play more, but I’m not the one calling myself to go out on the ice,” Matthews said. “It’s ultimately the coaches’ decision, who they’re putting out, how much.”
But Tavares will need time on the power play, too, as will PP wizard Mitch Marner, who, like Matthews, is looking for a bigtime contract by this time next year. The third member of the young-star trio, William Nylander, wasn’t at media day: The salary cap is a puzzle, and he remained unsigned.
Babcock says he still wants to spread minutes around. They’re good problems to have, but they could be problems.
So here they go. How fast will Babcock let them play? How much patience will they have for his endless grind? How will this team mesh? How will they measure up?
We’ll find out.
But, for the first time in almost two decades, you can say the Toronto Maple Leafs could play for a Stanley Cup.
And, for the first time in years, you won’t be kidding, because it’s true.