UPDATE: Jhonas Enroth has been put on waivers.

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Toronto’s first overall selection in the 2015/16 draft has five goals in his last five games and is having no issues settling into the National Hockey League. He’s been the player each opponent has tried to shut down in every game since Matthews buried four in his first game in a Leafs uniform. Can you blame them?

Auston Matthews was the sure shot at number one overall and is the exact player the Toronto Maple Leafs has been after since Mats Sundin left the organization. A solid framed number one center who can not only score goals, but create them while maintaining a quality two-way game. That’s not an easy gap to fill, nor is it one that you can fill for cheap.

The Leafs organization has certainly learned over the years that a player like Tim Connolly wasn’t going to cut it. At least the new management team has it figured out and has done a proper job at filling voids whether it be with drafting players (Marner, Nylander, Matthews) or trading for players who will fill much needed voids (Andersen, Zaitsev, Martin). Of course there is much more to be determined but this is certainly showing the Leafs as a whole are trending up.

Matthews is now tied for the team lead in goals with eleven, leads the team in shots with 89 and continues to gain confidence and chemistry playing with William Nylander. The two of them have contributed a number of goals for the Leafs power play and should be quite the force moving forward.

The Leafs needs to work on their face-offs as most of them are below 50% and only Bozak is above with 57%. Matthews being a rookie, you can expect him around 45%, but Kadri has to be better at 44%, perhaps something the Leafs can work on as they strive for puck possession and the face-off circle is where it all begins.

Are players like Komarov, Hyman, Brown, Bozak and Soshnikov going to be a part of this team as it grows and moves forward? That’s a great question, especially if you toss van Riemsdyk into the mix as well. The Leafs seem to have an abundance of forwards for the first time in ages, mind you, they havn’t had any significant injuries to any key pieces as of yet so perhaps they need more time to assess who’s worth holding onto and who’s worth upgrading.

Connor Brown has been a player that worked his way up from the fourth line to start the season and impresses me at least a couple of times each game. I’m hoping Leafs management see’s the overall value in a player like Brown and they hold onto him. He sacrifices his body to make plays happen, whether it be taking a hit to make a play or blocking a shot and gaining nothing but a bruise and a tap on the back of his helmet by Babs when he returns to the bench. Let’s hope Brown can keep up this intense, in your face gameplay up for 82 games a season and then some!

On Saturday the Leafs were all set for a feisty one versus Vancouver, it wasn’t the gong show some of us were hoping for but at least Martin and Gudbranson squared off to uphold some of the hype. Toronto found themselves down 2-0 quickly on a couple lucky goals, but showed they were by far the better team by coming back from the two goals and answering with two of their own.

It was all Toronto in the third period and overtime, they simply couldn’t beat Miller who stood on his head for the Canucks to ensure a point was coming their way. The Canucks held off the pressing Leafs and ended up winning in a shootout. The Leafs haven’t exactly been dominating in the shootouts, perhaps it’s time to work on some shootouts moves there boys.

At the end of the day the Buds came out of their Western road swing with three out of six points and barely met expectations. At least my expectations, I felt the Leafs could have easily come out with four points versus those three teams. They put the pressure on themselves Saturday night as they forgot to show up versus Calgary earlier in the week.

The Leafs have three games this week, but a slow start to the week as they don’t play until Wednesday and they will be facing Minnesota Wild at the Air Canada Center. Toronto then has another two day break before making the trip to Boston to take on the Bruins and then waste no time getting back at it with another double header versus Colorado in Toronto on Sunday.

In the Eastern Conference the standings are extremely tight. Toronto is only two points up on Buffalo who sits in last place in the East but yet only four points away from a wildcard position.

Jared Cowen: The ruling on Cowen’s grievance hearing is due by December 7th.

Thanks for reading, have a great week!

Go Leafs Go!

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