Toronto has dipped into the undrafted free agent market, signing Russian forward Nikita Soshnikov to a three-year entry level contract.
The 21-year-old winger scored 32 points in his second season with the KHL's Moscow Oblast Atlant and led his team with 14 even strength goals. The 5-11, 185-pound forward is from Nizhny Tagil, Russia, the same home town as former NHLer Alex Radulov.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs added another chapter to their book of uninspired efforts in a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks at Air Canada Center on Thursday, allowing the struggling Western Conference foe to take the lead and fire 21 shots at goaltender Jonathan Bernier in the opening 20 minutes.
The Leafs netminder was critical of his club’s effort following their fourth straight loss.
Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier compared the team's performance to a junior team playing against pros. http://t.co/GEuyFV6s1C
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 20, 2015“We were probably a junior team against an NHL team tonight.…Bernier said. “I don’t know how many times we are going to talk about having a good start and we just don’t do it.…
As with many games since the firing of Randy Carlyle in early January, players given the lion’s share of the ice time were the most listless and uninspired. The top line of Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk went a collective -8 and veteran Joffrey Lupul went without a point for the 16th straight game and has not scored a goal since December 20.
“You’ve got to be driven by the best players and we can’t get a start and can’t get a work ethic that is acceptable.… A frustrated interim coach Peter Horachek said after the game. “It was like a pro team playing a non-pro team. It was outclassed, outworked, outskated, outhit.…
The growing concern with 10 games remaining in the season is whether the club’s second half death spiral and complete lack of effort will taint the core group’s trade value so much that it will make moving them an even more difficult prospect.
There are positives to the club struggling, as the Leafs have not repeated their old trait of ruining their chances to get a potential impact player in the upcoming NHL Draft with meaningless wins down the stretch.
The loss on Thursday coupled with Columbus winning in Vancouver puts the Blue Jackets an almost insurmountable eight points in front of the Leafs, which would put Toronto either 4th or 5th overall going into the NHL Draft Lottery, being held on Saturday, April 18th.
A mixed bag of success and failure might have kept the MLSE Board in the mindset that things could be remedied by hiring a new coach or reshuffling the deck chairs but retaining talents like Kessel, Bozak and Phaneuf (all under the age of 30 and have many good years left in their careers).
After a fourth straight year of collapsing down the stretch or in the playoffs, there is little doubt that this current dysfunctional group will ever succeed and that the path favored by Team President Brendan Shanahan to move on from as many players as possible and build through drafting and development is best for the Leafs future.
The question yet to be answered is how much Toronto’s underwhelming performance will effect what the Leafs can get in exchange over the summer.
In spite a league worst -35 plus/minus and likely not eclipsing the 30 goal mark in a full season for the first time since 2008, there will undoubtedly be interested suitors in the 28-year-old Kessel in a league short on dynamic scorers. Inquiries from the Red Wings at the deadline are indicative that there are teams who’d consider Phaneuf an upgrade to their blueline.
The tactic that interested clubs will take could be as one NHL scout relayed last week. For the Leafs to move Phaneuf, a team would expect them to retain a significant portion of the $7 Million salary to make his cap hit more palatable and to get back young prospects and/or picks in return.
Toronto will want to make more of a “hockey deal… and would be willing to take a bad contract back as part of the swap, since the cap hit coming back would not be as long lasting as a $1-2 Million retention for the remaining six years of the deal.
Other team will try to take advantage of Toronto’s desire to make changes and take a hard line to give up as little as possible in deals for players who could have great impact on their clubs, which is an argument in favor of having an experienced GM on hand to make these important moves, whether it be Dave Nonis or someone else.
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McEichel Race – Points(Games Played)
8. PHILADELPHIA 73(73) 7. NEW JERSEY 71(70) 6. COLUMBUS 68(71) 5. CAROLINA 61(70) 4. TORONTO 60(72) 3. EDMONTON 51(71), 2. ARIZONA 50(71), 1. BUFFALO 47(70)
Current Leafs odds at winning Draft Lottery(9.5%) Same
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