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The Toronto Maple Leafs had an extremely successful regular season, but fell below the expectations of some with a first round loss to the Boston Bruins. One of the primary tasks ahead for newly installed GM Kyle Dubas is to evaluate the players that currently make up the club and determine which should be retained and which Toronto should move on from.
We continue the evaluation of the Leafs with a look at some of the club’s forwards:
Tyler Bozak - After a career-high 55 points in 2017, Bozak fell back slightly with 43 points last season, but remained a key cog in the Leafs first PP unit with Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly.
The 32-year-old is still good on face-offs and adept at scoring in shootouts, but his success at even strength was mostly tied to linemate van Riemsdyk and mitigated by his declining speed and defensive ability.
Grade : B-
Connor Brown - For the second season in a row, Brown has been the dependable option for head coach Mike Babcock to use in all kinds of situations. Last season, the 24-year-old winger scored 20 goals because he played a large chunk of the season on Auston Matthews line.
Brown spent more time on the fourth line this season and saw spot duty on other lines depending on the performance of other right wingers (Marner or William Nylander) and that impacted his offensive output, as he scored 14 goals in his sophomore campaign.
In the first round, Brown took a prominent role on the Leafs penalty killing unit after Leo Komarov’s injury in Game 2 and was shifted to the first line in Game 5 after Nylander had played ineffectively alongside Matthews.
Grade – B+
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Frederik Gauthier - The Maple Leafs 2013 first round pick, “The Goat… was recalled in early January and given a nine-game stretch to take the fourth line center job away from veteran Dominic Moore.
Gauthier scored one goal in nine games, but more important than his offensive numbers were his ability to win draws, play with energy and use his 6’5… 230 lb frame to his advantage. The 23-year-old’s faceoff winning percentage was below 50% and Babcock indicated upon his demotion that the big center needed to play more aggressively.
The big center was not recalled the rest of the season and his future with the club has to be in question with the additions of Par Lindholm and the improvement of Miro Aaltonen.
Grade – C-
Zach Hyman – The feisty winger continues to draw criticism from those who believe a more skilled winger belongs playing on the left side with Matthews, but in his second full season, Hyman silenced some of the critics with a career-high 40 points (15 goals, 25 assists) and his valuable contributions as a penalty killer.
In the playoffs, Hyman was one of the Leafs best forwards and one of the few got under the skin of the Bruins, challenged them physically and went to the front of the net.
Grade – A-
Forwards - Part II on Tuesday
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