Thanks For Another Great Season
Photo From Editor in Leaf
Here we are again on the losing end of
another game seven and as expected the fanbase are out in full force. I’m not
going to break the game down we all watched we all know what went down. I am
going to take time and give my thoughts on the season, we watched 89 games including
playoffs of the best team to ever be iced for the Maple Leafs and unfortunately,
it’s the two-time defending champions moving on to play Florida. Last night we
watched the Leafs give a great effort only to fall short. That led to my phone
blowing up with all kinds of comments from friends of mine and of course I was
online looking for post game comments but in doing that I saw comments from
fans that made me just shake my head.
Last night I had a friend tell me “You won’t
win with a backup goalie”. First, to call Jack Campbell a backup goalie is a
slap in his face but also here’s the thing at some point EVERY goalie is a
backup. It’s up to them to take the job from the original starter. Here is an example
Grant Fuhr in 1992 was Toronto’s number one goalie Grant although at one time
was a great goalie in the league with the Leafs his best days were well
behind him, so management decided to give Felix Potvin an opportunity to take
over, and he took the ball and ran with it leading Toronto too back-to-back
Conference Finals. He went from being the backup goalie to Toronto’s number one.
So, now let’s jump to when Kyle Dubas took over as GM. The Leafs had Freddie
Andersen who as their starter did a great job, but Dubas went out and got Jack
Campbell because Michael Hutchinson couldn’t do his part as the team’s backup.
Now, we look at last season Freddie began the year as Toronto’s number one, but
an injury meant Jack Campbell had an opportunity to show what he could do getting
majority of the starts while Andersen was recovering. Campbell would then set a
franchise record for wins to start a season. Fast forward to the end of the
season and Campbell became the number one for Toronto heading into the post
season because Andersen was still injured even though he was roller blading
down the Lakeshore. Going into this season the question was can Jack Campbell cope
with the workload that comes with being a starter? In my opinion he absolutely
did, he posted a record of 31-9-6 in 47 starts, a season that saw him receive an
All-Star honour and be in early Vezina conversations, then you look at these
seven games he single handily kept the Leafs in game 5 after they fell down 2-0
only to come back and win that contest. I think anyone that points the finger
at Jack Campbell for losing last nights game should really take time and study
his play since coming to the Leafs because his numbers backup his performance
and it shows he is capable of being a number one goalie in the National Hockey
League.
Then I saw people saying fire Sheldon Keefe
and Dubas. Why would you fire your GM and coach after a season that saw them
finish 4th in the entire league? This season Kyle Dubas addressed
areas that needed fixing. He moved Ritchie for Lyubushkin, and he brought in a
physicality that fans had been asking for. He added Giordano who brought a
veteran presence on the blueline that helped everyone defensively. Looking at
the forward group he added Michael Bunting for 2 years at 900K and Bunting is
now up for Rookie of the year after putting up great numbers he signed David
Kampf who fans questioned this signing, but they didn’t look at the important stat
of him winning 60% of the faceoffs he takes. Every fan criticized the big four
saying they weren’t performing when Matthews had a year that likely wins him
the Hart Trophy, we saw Marner who last season was ripped to shreds for not
scoring in the playoffs, he shut up the critics by collecting 97 points and
then he added 8 points in these seven games. Nylander had a career year in
goals and points this season and then in this series had 7 points in seven
games. Lastly, if you have read enough of these articles this season you know
my thoughts on the hate that Tavares got all season for his apparent lack of
production.
I know seeing the team lose in round one
again is frustrating and I get people want changes but when I ask them what
changes do they make? The common answer I got last night, and this morning was “I
don’t know”. The fans want changes, but they have no idea what they would
change. Here is my answer to my own question to those who want changes. You don’t
change anything you keep the core group together. Of course, Toronto has free
agents that need new deals. Dubas will tinker with the lineup that’s obvious but
as far as drastic changes I highly doubt that happens. I don’t think you see Wayne
Simmonds return as much as I loved having him on the Leafs, I don’t think you
see Kyle Clifford returns. As far as defence Sandin and Liljegren are restricted
free agents in need of a new contract and Dubas honestly needs to decide to
either give those two a legitimate opportunity on this club or move them to
bring in some assets because both have shown they can perform at this level,
but their talent is wasted if they are just going to be sitting in the press
box as a healthy scratch. Ilya Lyubushkin and Mark Giordano need new contracts
and personally I think you see Ilya get extended by Dubas and Giordano will
come back to the Leafs if he is willing to take a low value contract, some have
said Giordano could return on a 1-year league minimum deal.
The big question this summer will be can
the Leafs and Campbell agree on a new deal? I personally think they will
because he wants to stay here sure he wants fair value to him, but he also
likely wants to keep the group together I can see Campbell taking less money to
stay like what Rielly did in signing his new contract but of course there is
always the possibility that he doesn’t sign a new offer in Toronto and looks
elsewhere. If that were to happen, then I remind you of the potential trade
that Elliott Friedman mentioned on deadline day that would see Nylander move to
Anaheim and goalie John Gibson make his way to Toronto too take over in goal.
All in all, this season even though it
ended in an all too familiar fashion I still say this season was a positive one
because all year we saw a team respond when faced with adversity. We saw them
having winning months for majority of the season and once again in this first
round we saw our Leafs push the two-time defending champions to the limit and
that is something to be proud of in this group. Sheldon Keefe said it best in
his post game conference last night when he mentioned that in the handshake
line that the team got a lot of respect from the opponent, but it isn’t the
respect business it’s the winning business. Trust me when I tell you readers
this Leaf team is very close to breaking through and when they do it will be
well worth the wait, unfortunately this comes with the territory when a team is
still learning how to get things done when it matters. Many teams have to go
through it the Oilers did in the 80’s losing a hard fought series against the
Islanders, Crosby and the Penguins went through it before finally beating Detroit
in the finals rematch to win his first cup, Ovechkin waited eight years before
finally getting by the Penguins and win his first cup, and lastly lets remember
three years ago when everyone thought Tampa was the team to beat they ended up
getting swept by Columbus. While everyone in the media and every fan thought
they needed to blow the roster up and start over management decided to stay
put. They chose to keep the group together and tinker here and there, but they
stayed the course and stayed patient and that decision has clearly worked for
them. I know Leaf fans want changes but if you can watch this team but can’t
think of any solutions or changes then maybe remaining patient and trusting
Kyle Dubas is the right decision because again this team is very close to
having success.
I want to take the time to again give a
massive thank you to everyone who followed this blog this season and last, I
have had a lot of fun doing this. I by no means have ever said that I am an
expert when it comes to hockey, I just give my opinion and try to use my
handful of years as a coach to express my thoughts on the team and their
performance. I of course received some backlash and got called many names for
things I have said but that comes with the territory when you write about a
team like the Leafs. At the end of the day, I thank everyone that has read this
blog and support it. Also to the people that thought I was stupid or delusional
for believing in this team and believing they can win that’s fine too because
it tells me that even if that is your
opinion of me you’re still reading what I write so for that thank you because
as long as people are clicking the links when I post them that means there is
an audience and slowly and surely it will continue to grow.
I will likely be back with a quick article
after the Leafs do their exit interviews, but I will possibly write about
Canada at the Men’s World Championships that are currently going on, Canada is
2-0 after beating Germany yesterday and Italy this morning. I will also
possibly write about Canada at the upcoming World Junior Championships in
August and of course when the draft and free agency come around there will be
articles.
Thanks for all the support and thanks as
always for reading.
Always a Maple Leafs fan that will never change . Giver next year Soupy Matthew's Mariner and the rest
ReplyDeleteLove You All
thanks for reading
DeleteThe montra is always for the Leafs. Maybe next year.
ReplyDeletethanks for reading
DeleteThank you for the comments. We'll said, and eloquently stated. The only thing I could think of changing in the Leafs lineup would be Nylander. I don't deny his goal scoring abilities, but his lack of playoff intensity was troubling. I believe a grittier forward, with play making abilities would be a great trade.
ReplyDeletethe entry draft weekend could be an interesting one for the Leafs and their fans that's all i'll say for now
Deletewith exit interviews happening tomorrow we will likely get an idea of the direction management and the team will take
thanks for reading
Fire management!
Deletedon't know if that's going to happen seeing as the team won 54 games for 115 points but time will tell
Deletethanks for reading