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With the number of injuries, suspensions, and trade rumours vis-à -vis the Toronto Maple Leafs of late, there has been a lot of dialogue between fans and media outlets.
As such, I’d like to cover a few topics which are most prominent in terms of how likely they are to affect the Leafs moving forward.
Experiencing much adversity with their decision to try winger James van Riemsdyk at centre, the Leafs reacted very quickly and acquired 22 year old centerman Peter Holland from the Anaheim Ducks. Having only played 30 NHL games prior to joining Toronto, Holland was brought in as a temporary replacement for Tyler Bozak on the first line, but also provides the Leafs with added depth down the middle.
Many fans were left wondering why a homegrown asset such as Greg McKegg was not afforded with the opportunity to step up in what seemed like the perfect opportunity, but the fact of the matter was simply that while McKegg was doing well at the AHL level, his inexperience at the NHL level appeared to be too risky for the Leafs. I should add that the decision appears to have been well made, as Holland has looked good over his first two games so far.
As the roster stands, the Leafs have Tyler Bozak, Nazem Kadri, Dave Bolland, Trevor Smith, Jay McClement, and Jarred Smithson in terms of centremen. With the recent news that Tyler Bozak could make his return as early as tomorrow, in addition to Nazem Kadri’s suspension also being fully served, Toronto’s brass will need to once again reorganize the lines.
While it should be to no one’s surprise that Bozak will be slated between Kessel and JVR upon his return, Kadri will likely draw in on the second line between Lupul and Clarkson, leaving Holland, Smith, and Smithson all vying for that remaining spot.
Given the way that Smith has been playing of late, the obvious choice here would be to keep him between Kulemin and Raymond, send Holland down to the Marlies, and keep Smithson around to centre the 4th line with McClement on a rotation basis, ultimately providing two strong faceoff choices.
The nice part about the rotation of their current centremen is that in the absence of Bolland, Toronto will have the opportunity to experiment with Smith and or Holland on the third line, with both McClement and Smithson providing that 4th line veteran presence and PK abilities needed to succeed. Once a problem for the Leafs, it appears that Dave Nonis may have resolved their lack of depth down the middle for the time being, and can now focus on another area of concern; the defense.
A hot topic of late has been the discussion of Canes’ Director of Hockey Operations Ron Francis who has been scouting a handful of Toronto Marlies games. The consensus here seems to be that the Hurricanes are in need of a puck-moving defenseman like JM Liles who the Leafs have no use for at the moment. Rumblings with respect to this potential interest would suggest that in exchange, the Canes would offer veteran Tim Gleason who is not being utilized by his own respected team.
30 year old Gleason who has been scratched throughout most of the season is thought to need a change of scenery. The 6’0 215lbs defender was once a steady and reliable shutdown guy but has slowly declined in terms of his play with the Canes. While still young(er) at the age of 30, many feel that if Gleason was better utilized, say in a system similar to that of Randy Carlyle’s, that he may be of use to a team looking to make a playoff run.
Outside of moving one vet who is struggling to find a role with their respective team for another, the real problem I have with this discussion is how it affects the defensive roster of the Leafs. Currently at their disposal, Toronto has eight NHL defenseman with Fraser being listed as day to day, and moving a defenseman who is part of your affiliate club to acquire another NHL defenseman creates quite the logjam on their backend.
With that being said, and while I could see the value in moving Liles for Gleason, if this were to happen Toronto would need to move at least one defenseman from their current roster. I had a discussion this morning with a friend of mine who is well versed with respect to NHL topics, and it is of his belief that Morgan Rielly will, without a doubt, be loaned to team Canada for the WJC and then finish out his junior year prior to being sent to the Marlies as an attempt to avoid hitting the 45 game mark. For those who are unaware, playing 45 games or more would cause a player of his status to become a UFA one year earlier.
Personally, I disagree. While I really wouldn’t expect any other comment from Carlyle, he has expressed that if Rielly makes the Leafs a better team that he would not be going anywhere. A direct response to this would be that so far this year, Morgan has only averaged 17:05 minutes of ice time in comparison to Jake’s 19:51 who is arguably his direct competition at the moment.
While I hold that Rielly is a stronger player, the reason for the use of Gardiner over Rielly for me is twofold. For one, Jake Gardiner has more experience than does Rielly and has earned his spot on the Leafs roster after several demotions to the AHL and improvements to his game.
Secondly, as I have alluded to in previous blogs, I maintain that the Leafs are still trying to shop Gardiner and there is no better way to increase his value other than showcasing him while he continues to play well. With that in mind, there is absolutely no way in my opinion that Gardiner will bet sat anytime soon, which leaves Morgan Rielly as the odd man out.
Given that Carlyle favours his shutdown defenders who can also make transition passes over offensively gifted defenders, expect to see Mark Fraser back in the lineup once healthy and Morgan Rielly sitting in the press-box. As such, and in this writer’s humble opinion, the Leafs would be best served to find a suitor for Gardiner and move him for an upgrade elsewhere. With that being established, I wholeheartedly believe that Morgan Rielly improves the team and should be kept beyond the 45 game marker, provided that the quality of his play does not diminish.
The last subject matter which I would like to cover in this week’s blog is the current status of a few players who may or may not be a part of the Toronto Maple Leafs beyond this current season. With nine players slated to become UFA’s at the end of this year in addition to six RFA’s, Toronto certainly has their hands full when it comes to the upcoming salary negotiations.
To jump right into it, there are four UFA’s and two RFA’s who I feel should be priority signings, and those are; Dave Bolland, Jay McClement, Dion Phaneuf, Mark Fraser, Cody Franson, and James Reimer. While the remaining players should not be necessarily considered of less importance to the team, I feel that the six mentioned players above are those who have secured themselves as top priorities with this team as a result of their strong play.
The remaining players which the Leafs will need to prioritize between are then; Nikolai Kulemin, Mason Raymond, Peter Holland, Carter Ashton, Jerred Smithson, Trevor Smith, Paul Ranger, and Jake Gardiner(if still around).
With players like Holland, Asthon, and Smith likely being resigned to minor contracts, those of more concern would be Kulemin, Raymond, Ranger, and Gardiner. I chose to leave out Smithson because I feel that despite being valuable at the moment, he will become expendable after this season.
The issue which the Leafs are likely to face will be with respect to Mason Raymond who has been a solid pickup for $1M. Already credited with 15pts for the year, Raymond will without a doubt require a substantial pay increase if he continues to play this well for the Leafs – something they will likely not be able to afford. That said, it will be interesting to see if a guy like Raymond becomes a tradable assets for Toronto, or if his strong play earns him a nice new contract via free agency.
Having always been a fan of Kulemin who does all the little things so well which often goes unnoticed, I hope that he and the Leafs come to a contractual agreement to keep him around for another few years. Despite proving to be a serviceable third line winger who can play the PK, Kulemin will need to work on his point totals this year if he’s going to get anywhere near his current $2.8M salary again. While not relied upon for his scoring, his defensive play will likely not be enough to warrant a third line contract again if he’s not able to produce offensively, as well.
Outside of these two forwards, Paul Ranger and Jake Gardiner are left to be determined. Because I feel confident enough that Gardiner will be moved at some point this year, I will leave him out for the time being. In terms of Ranger, I suppose I haven’t been too impressed with his overall play so far this year. While the season is still rather young and he has room to step up and prove his value to the team, I do not feel overly optimistic for the defender that his contract will be extended beyond this year with the Leafs.
As I have hopefully made clear, the Toronto Maple Leafs have many decisions to make in the near future with respect to their roster, both in terms of their short-term and long-term goals. With December approaching and GM’s beginning to make phone calls in terms of potential trades, I expect the Leafs to make at least one big move which will involve a defenseman, or perhaps a goaltender…
That’s all for this week folks, thanks for reading!