Talent has papered over some cracks
They don’t talk about the NHL much on ESPN’s SportsCenter, but when they talked about it Sunday morning, they were spending considerable time dissecting the final moments of the Maple Leafs moms’ trip.
Specifically, they were critiquing Bonnie Marner, mother of Mitch, who was captured attempting the floss, the dance craze inspired by the video game Fortnite, to which many Leafs, including Bonnie’s 21-year-old son, have counted themselves as devotees.
“How old is too old to do the flossy dance?” wondered one of the SportsCenter anchors.
“Twelve,” was the answer that came back. To which we say: Why throw so much shade on the hockey moms? As the Leafs emerged from their first-annual moms’ trip with a measly one point in two games, the email inbox was frequented by suggestions that the franchise ought to leave such bonding experiences for, say, the pre-season. Having parents along, some readers contended, is too big a distraction with vital games on the line. So, ban Fortnite, a la the Vancouver Canucks. Ban mothers dancing as in Fortnite. Ban all forms of off-ice fun.
But even hyper-focused head coach Mike Babcock, who’d likely be the first to complain if he saw a team activity as an obstacle to Toronto’s success, seemed convinced that the value of the experience couldn’t be measured by the points in the standings.
“It’s been special,” said Babcock. “It’s been real special to be around the moms and see them interact with their sons. It’s totally different than when the dads are here, but it’s been a great experience. A loud experience. But I’m not getting into that.” How loud? “Oh yeah. There’s lots of noise,” Babcock said in the lead-up to Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Panthers. “They seem to be having a great time, and it warms your heart, to be honest with you, just to watch ’em interact ... There’s been a lot of fun, and a lot of love, and that’s a great thing.”
It’s a big-picture view from a coach who is sometimes accused of seeing things only through the obsessive lens of wanting to win in the here and now. And it was apropos of the moment. Yes, the Maple Leafs have lost four of their past five games. But no, it’s not time to panic. The Leafs are still on a 109-point pace — the best pace in the history of the franchise since 1951. Seasons are never a straight-line progression to glory. Even the ones that end in the ultimate triumph usually have their detours.
There have been some excellent performances on the other side of the puck, too. Andrei Vasilevskiy’s 48-save masterpiece in Tampa Bay on Thursday night ranked as one of the best puckstopping displays in recent NHL memory. Aleksander Barkov’s hat trick for the Panthers on Saturday was a sticktap-worthy bit of genius, too.
“I don’t come walking out and say, ‘Geez. The wheels are off here,’ I don’t see that at all,” Babcock said Saturday. “We weren’t good enough. We didn’t play hard enough … I think you go through ebbs and flows each year.”
Why the current ebb? For one thing, the Leafs, perhaps spoiled by the early-season excellence of Frederik Andersen, are seeing what life is like with average goaltending — and it’s no surprise they don’t like the look of it.
The Leafs had the third-best goaltending in the league in October, as measured by fiveon-five save percentage. They had the best goaltending in November by the same measure — a .950 mark that saw the Leafs win 10 of their 14 games. But so far in December that number is down to .910, 15th in the 31-team league as of Sunday morning. In other words, it’s middle of the road. And maybe it’s no surprise, given their well-documented holes, that the Leafs have three wins in seven games with those kinds of numbers in the crease.
Dips like this happen to the best of goaltenders, of course. But if there’s reason for concern, it’s this. Andersen has faced more shots this season than all but two goaltenders, Ottawa’s Craig Anderson and Anaheim’s John Gibson. Andersen is on pace to play 67 games — one more than he did last season, when there was an obvious fall-off in his play in March and April that appeared to be linked to fatigue. Given there isn’t a more important athlete on Toronto’s roster, it’s beyond important that the Leafs don’t yet again mismanage Andersen’s workload to such disastrous results.
Toronto’s own special-teams swoons have been well documented. The power play is one for its last 22 tries, but it’s not the power play that’s the topof-mind worry. Toronto’s work with the man advantage against the Lightning on Thursday, after all, could have easily produced multiple goals if not for Vasilevskiy’s brilliance.
“Sometimes that’s the way it goes, it doesn’t bounce your way,” said centreman John Tavares. “And other times, it just seems like everything’s bouncing your way.”
The penalty kill is the bigger issue, down to 18th in the league now after the Panthers went 2-for-4. If there’s an appropriate moment to ask the question “How old is too old?” — well, Ron Hainsey’s enduring presence as a penalty-kill linchpin might be it. Hainsey’s 1,020-game career ought to be celebrated, but he will be 38 in March. It’s a young man’s league. And what he’s being asked to do with the Leafs this season — play about 20 minutes a night on the team’s top pairing alongside Morgan Rielly while also holding down a spot on the top penaltykilling unit — is becoming more and more of a stretch. You saw it in Saturday’s furious third-period push, when Rielly was paired with Jake Gardiner. Rielly, when unburdened from carrying Hainsey, is a weapon the Leafs don’t exploit to his fullest.
If the Leafs were taking a wait-and-see approach to whether or not they need back-end reinforcements, the wait ought to be over. Hainsey in a lesser role would make sense. But it’s hard to imagine things getting better on the blue line without real change.
Which is not to say things won’t get better for the blue and white. If Andersen rediscovers his October-November self, if the power play finds the right side of the bounces, this team has the talent and the knack for papering over its cracks.