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Toronto Maple Leafs; Let's Try Something Different... |
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If there’s one thing that has been consistent about being a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs over the past several years, it’s being disappointed.
That being said, it would almost seem that, of late, fans are not entirely sure how to feel with respect to the signings, transactions, and voice of their team. Let's start from the beginning. The 2014 off-season took off just like many other; tons of rumors and speculation, and a certain level of discontent, despair, or even pessimism from fans.
As the summer moved along, the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted William Nylander with their 8th overall selection. Of course at this point in time there is no sense in claiming who is a winner or loser outside of the top three or four picks, however I feel as though many fans were surprised and quite content with this selection.
For once in quite some time, the Leafs drafted a player with pure, raw, hockey skill. Standing 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing in around 170lbs, Nylander is rather different from their previous first round selections. They drafted a player outside of North America, and went with finesse and overall skill over size and strength.
To further my point, take a look at Toronto’s previous five, first round draft picks.
Fred Gauthier – Canada – 6’4 215lbs
Morgan Rielly – Canada – 6’0 210lbs
Tyler Biggs – American – 6’3 225lbs
Nazem Kadri – Canadian – 6’1 190lbs
Luke Schenn – Canadian – 6’2 230lbs
On average over the previous five years, the Leafs have seemingly drafted someone out of Canada, who stood 6’2 tall and weighed 215lbs. William Nylander is the smallest player they’ve drafted in the past five years, he’s European, and he doesn’t play with an edge as would be the case with Nazem Kadri.
While drafting can differ year after year and the mere observation that the Leafs have selected outside of their previous five year norm isn’t exactly saying much, there are a few other things to consider.
The Leafs have been known to make many knee jerk reactions over the years. Whether it was over-extending and overpaying a player, or trading youth and draft picks for older players, the Leafs have made some nasty decisions in recent years. That said, Toronto had a tough decision on their hands when it came to Dave Bolland.
The player admittedly wanted to stay in Toronto, the fans loved him (despite his playing time due to injury), and he seemed to be a good overall fit. The team wasn’t exactly “strong” by any means down the middle, and Bolland’s experience, leadership, and skill was something that most felt was needed.
The only catch, was that Bolland was requesting a longer term deal, thought to be 3-5 years, and was asking in the ball park of $5M per season. In a cap constrictive world which the NHL finds itself, the Leafs had a very tough decision with this player, and ultimately decided to let him go. What the team did, instead, was acquire Daniel Winnik, David Booth, and Mike Santorelli.
These three players have a combined cap hit of $3.9M and provide much needed depth to the team’s bottom 6. While none of these players on an individual level could necessarily replace what Bolland may have offered, the three combined in addition to the $1M+ in cap savings for me, was by and large, a win for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Of course whether or not these players will have a large enough impact over last year’s results are left to be seen, however from an objective stance, it was a much smarter move for the short term and long term plan of this hockey club.
While we’re on the topic of the long term plan for the Leafs, it stands to reason that we should discuss the latest signing of defenseman Jake Gardiner. The 24 year old was signed to a five year, $20M contract with an AAV of $4.05M per year.
There’s two ways of looking at this contract. First of all, at 24 years old Jake is arguably entering his prime as a defenseman in the NHL. It will be over the next five years that he is likely to make his impact and prove his worth to an NHL club, and the Leafs have secured him for each of those five years. What’s more, is that Jake agreed to waive any no trade clauses in the deal, allowing the Leafs to move the player if they felt the need.
With his recent production and current cap hit, Jake Gardiner might be an absolute steal for Toronto if he develops anywhere near the player which the organization believes they possess.
“We’re just scratching the surface with Jake,” general manager Dave Nonis said. “The exciting part for us is the year he had coming out of his entry level deal. His minutes were up, his plus-minus was respectable ... there are a lot of positive ticks beside his name.”
Although Gardiner still has a lot to prove, I feel that Toronto locked this player up at a very fair number considering his production so far, and possibly a great number if he continues to develop. The difference here is that in previous years we may have seen Toronto pay for what they felt the player "could" be, and would ultimately end up overpaying.
If you’re still a little undecided toward the fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs are moving in the right direction, I suppose I can remind you of the recent upper management change with the hiring of “stats guru” Kyle Dubas.
There have been plenty of pieces written about the new assistant GM, but if there’s anything to take away from all the discussion, it’s that the Leafs are open to trying new things as they take strides toward achieving future success.
The overall message of this blog shouldn’t convey that the Leafs are already, without a doubt, a better team and that success will immediately follow. Rather, I feel that for once in at least a decade or two we see positive moves and an actual direction from this club which is leaving even the most opinionated saying ”Uh, good job guys”.
Thanks for reading!
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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