The Toronto Maple Leafs successful stretch in March with a lineup populated with prospects from the AHL Marlies and veterans acquired in deals for Dion Phaneuf, James Reimer and Daniel Winnik nearly moved the club out of the bottom of the NHL standings, but that short stint of success was interpreted correctly by Mike Babcock and the club's management about the squad going into the off-season.
While the head coach stated in his season-ending press conference that the Leafs were further along than he expected, the club’s hierarchy is keenly aware that the pressures encountered in the final six weeks are not the same as they would be with a clean slate at the start of next season.
NHL exposure for rookies William Nylander, Connor Brown, Zach Hyman and Nikita Soshnikov may prove to be invaluable down the road and the resurgence of Colin Greening could mean that Toronto has found a contributor in a player who had been relegated to the American Hockey League and dispatched by Ottawa, but those facts are not going to prevent GM Lou Lamoriello from being busy this summer in acquiring assets.
Jonathan Bernier enjoyed his best stretch of the year following the trade of Reimer, winning nearly half of his 12 victories in the final month and improving his save percentage from the .890's to a respectable .908, but that improvement did not improve Babcock's confidence in the 27-year-old after playing subpar most of the campaign.
Bernier is under contract for next season at $4.15 Million, but it is highly probable that Lamoriello will be looking to add a new #1 goalie via the trade market in spite of the Leafs goalie late rally.
The departure of Phaneuf and Roman Polak and the season-ending injury to Matt Hunwick gave defenseman Martin Marincin a chance to play with Morgan Rielly on the top pairing. The 24-year-old darling of analytics aficionados impressed Babcock, but not enough to lower the need to bolster the blueline on the list of Toronto's priorities.
The anticipated addition of KHLer Nikita Zaitsev is the first step for Lamoriello. It is possible that Toronto will explore the possibility of re-signing Polak if the veteran defenseman is amenable to returning to the Leafs in the early stages of their rebuild and may be looking to package a few of their plethora of draft picks to acquire a pending RFA or someone with a significant cap hit from a team in a cap crunch.
The late season performance of Nylander was the most encouraging aspect of the Leafs season and further evidence of that potential during the Calder Cup Playoffs will increase the confidence that the 19-year-old can step into a top-six role next season, but that promise is not going to dissuade Toronto from pursuing Steven Stamkos if the superstar center is available as a free agent.
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Ex-Leafs Playoff Tracker
Richard Panik(CHI) - 2 games, 0G 0A
Greg McKegg(FL) - 1 game, 0G 0A
Kris Versteeg(LA) - 2 games, 0G 0A
Luke Schenn(LA) - 2 games, 0G 0A
Nikolai Kulemin(NYI) - 3 games, 0G 0A
Viktor Stalberg(NYR) - 1 game, 0G 0A
Phil Kessel(PIT) - 2 games, 2G 1A
Alexander Steen(STL) 3 games, 0G 0A
Carl Gunnarsson(STL) 3 games, 0G 0A
Roman Polak(SJ) - 2 games, 0G 0A
Nick Spaling(SJ) - 2 games, 0G, 0A
Daniel Winnik(WAS) - 3 games, 0G, 0A
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