Leafs say they’ll get tougher
Only one of Toronto’s 11 picks Wednesday weighs more than 175 pounds
If the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be tougher to play against — the stated goal of the team, from its president to its coaching staff — it will be accomplished through trades and free agency.
And we should know whether GM Kyle Dubas can pull off this transformation within a week or so.
There are pending free agents like Wayne Simmonds and Alex Pietrangelo who have been linked to the Leafs when free agency opens Friday at noon, players who would fill the organizational needs of adding toughness and a right-handed defenceman.
There are trades happening across the league, and there are restricted free agents being given their walking papers as teams deal with a salary-cap crunch and budget restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. All of it provides opportunity for Dubas, who has more cap space than many and has wealthy owners willing to spend to its limit.
“I know what we’re looking to accomplish,” Dubas said Wednesday after two days of drafting had wrapped up. “We want guys on our team who are really competitive, who make life hard on the opposition, with their speed, and their pressure, and their physicality. They have to be able to play as well. They may not be some of the typical names that everyone says: ‘Oh, this guy is tough.’
“But we’ve done a lot of work and studied what we want, and who will be able to compete at an effective level for our team. We’ve got a good sense of what we’re trying to do, it’s just a matter of whether the market will allow us to and whether the cap space will allow us to.”
The Leafs have about $5.4 million (U.S.) in cap space, but can spend up to 10 per cent over the $81.5-million cap over the offseason if they want to.
There’s a segment of the team’s fan base that welcomes the change in focus from all skill to added toughness. Even coach Sheldon Keefe acknowledged they might have to sacrifice some skill next season.
“That’s absolutely the case,” said Keefe. “You’re not going to get the desired skill level you want all through the lineup. But we don’t want to worsen our team. We have to be intelligent with all the moves we make. And let’s not lose sight of the fact the players we do have returning can be better.”
In a way, it was almost a Jekyl-land-Hyde-like day as far as team messaging went.
Dubas spoke about the Leafs getting to be tougher to play against by bringing in brawny bottom-six wingers that made him sound more like Brian Burke with every passing statement. But over two days of the draft, he didn’t choose anybody like that. It was a day of more undersized players, but with incredible upside as far as speed and skill.
The Leafs chose 11 players on Wednesday, a day after taking Rodion Amirov with the 15th overall pick. Only one of those players clocked in at more than 175 pounds — seventh-rounder Wyatt Schingoethe (201 pounds). Only two were taller than six feet, and one of them was a goalie.
“We would love to have players that are very big and very talented,” said Dubas. “But we draft a certain way. If a player is a good player, tall or short, it doesn’t matter to us. If a player is tall but bad, they’re not suddenly going to become good because they ’re 6-4, 225 pounds.
“If you look at drafts, the guys that hit later on are guys that are overlooked for some reason. Size is an issue for them.”
It speaks to their strategy. It’s a market inefficiency the Leafs don’t mind mining, even if they take heat every time they draft someone on the small side.
Indeed, the Leafs helped transform five-foot-10 Andreas Johnsson from an undersized late pick (202nd overall in 2003) into an effective NHLer. And they developed then converted another undersized forward, undrafted five-foot-10 Trevor Moore, into goalie Jack Campbell via a trade with the Los Angeles Kings.
The same won’t be said of fivefoot-11 Jeremy Bracco, a onetime promising winger with the Marlies. He and Frederik Gauthier — one of the biggest players on the roster at six-footfive — are on their way to unrestricted free agency after being informed that the Leafs would not tender them a qualifying offer.
And to be fair, none of the players taken the last couple of days are going to make an impact on the team next season. It will probably take Amirov a year; the others, by virtue of their draft position, are longer shots that will take more time. Will they make it?
“We won’t know that answer for a number of years,” said Dubas. “We are happy with the draft. We’re happy with the haul of players we came away with. Now it’s up to us to develop them.”