The normal end-of-the-season report card clearly would not provide anything revelatory about the Toronto Maple Leafs, as most of the players would barely pass or earn failing grades for a club’s dismal performance. The year saw the Leafs go 30-44-8, finish 27th overall and dismiss General Manager Dave Nonis, head coaches Randy Carlyle and Peter Horachek, the entire coaching staff and most of the scouts.
What is to be determined in the next few months is whether those who comprise Toronto’s 2014-15 roster will survive the coming teardown and be a part of the rebuild or will be moving on to other NHL clubs. Over the next few days, we’ll take a look at the Leafs position-by-position and gauge the likelihood of each player’s future.
Goaltenders
Jonathan Bernier – 2014-15 Stats : GP-58, GAA-2.87, Record-21-28-7, SO-2, Sv %-.912
Salary - $2.9 Million
Contract Status – Restricted Free Agent
A proper evaluation of goaltenders with a team defense as flawed and porous as the Maple Leafs was this season is difficult, but Bernier and James Reimer have to take some of the blame for the club’s terrible showing.
The 26-year-old got two-thirds of Toronto’s starts and went through a pair of lengthy losing streaks (eight and seven games) in the second-half, as well as displaying a nasty habit of giving up momentum-altering goals.
One possible reason for continually getting starts was to make a determination if Bernier could handle the conventional 60-65 game workload given to an NHL starting netminder(especially after suffering abdominal and knee injuries at the end of 2013-14) and to give Leafs management more of a body of work to decide if the ex-LA Kings first rounder is goaltender of the present and future.
Until February, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Toronto would sign Bernier to a long-term extension in the neighborhood of $5 Million per season, but now another short-term bridge deal seems the more likely path.
What the Leafs(and Bernier) have to determine is whether he can come through the ordeal of 40+ shots per night for another two or three years and still be the goalie who can backstop Toronto to success. Another factor is what they could get in return in a deal and whether Bernier performing well could prevent the Leafs from being bad enough to draft quality prospects near the top of the first round in 2016 and 2017.
Re-sign and remain with Leafs – 70%, Trade – 30%
James Reimer – 2014-15 Stats : GP-35, GAA-3.16, Record-9-16-1, SO-0, Save %-.907
Salary - $2.3 Million
Contract Status – Signed through 2015-16
Reimer’s numbers were virtually identical to those posted last season(a losing record, over 3.00 GAA, save percentage in the low .900’s) in a year where a better performance might have given the Morweena, MB native a chance to steal the starting job away from Bernier.
The 27-year-old requested a trade last summer to have a chance to be a starter elsewhere, but then chose to re-sign with Toronto for two years. After a second straight subpar year, the potential return for Reimer would be negligible, which might keep him in Toronto until the trade deadline next season.
His affable personality has made Reimer popular with the fans and that might enough of a reason to keep him around for an upcoming season where the patience of Leafs Nation will be challenged.
Remains with Toronto – 90%, Trade – 10%
Tomorrow – The Defense : Part I
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The Toronto Marlies begin their AHL Western Conference matchup with the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday at Ricoh Coliseum. The Marlies host Game Two of the best-of-five first round series Sunday before the scene shifts to Michigan for Game 3 next Wednesday and Games 4 & 5(if necessary) next weekend.
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