Expect Maple Leafs’ Experiments With Fringe Players To Continue All Year

The Toronto Maple Leafs bid farewell to winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel this week, ending the 26-year-old’s half-dozen-game stint with the organization. Aube-Kubel was claimed off waivers by the Washington Capitals Saturday, and although Leafs GM Kyle Dubas signed him as a low-risk, decent-reward unrestricted free agent last summer, his $1-million salary wasn’t producing results. He didn’t record a point in very limited action, and while he may get more opportunity on the injury-plagued Caps, Aube-Kubel likely won’t be setting the scoresheet on fire. In his previous four NHL seasons, Aube-Kubel’s highest goal total was 11, in 67 games with the Stanley-Cup-champion Colorado Avalanche last season. He’s a worker bee, and the Leafs have roster concerns that made his skill set expendable.

But don’t think for a second Dubas is done tweaking Toronto’s roster. The juggling has continued this week, with borderline NHLers Victor Mete and Pontus Holmbgerg being reassigned to the American League Toronto Marlies, and newly-healthy defenseman Jordie Benn activated from Long-Term Injured Reserve. Benn will bring a more physical element to the Leafs’ game, but for him to get into the lineup, someone has to come out. Will it be Rasmus Sandin, who hasn’t thrived this season? He seems the most likely candidate to go. But after a game or two with Benn, someone (*cough-Justin-Holl-cough*) will come out, and Sandin will get another chance.

Besides, it’s not as if Toronto doesn’t have many options this season. Winger Alex Steeves has five goals and 13 points in 10 games for the Marlies. His teammate, Nick Abrusseze, has four goals and eight points in 10 games. Joey Anderson has seven goals and 13 points in 10 Marlies games. And off-season acquisition Adam Gaudette has eight goals and 10 points for the Marlies in nine games. You shouldn’t be surprised to see any or all of them get a sniff at the NHL level this season. Someone will get hurt, or the team will struggle, and the aforementioned players are cheap alternatives with which to experiment. The Leafs’ top-six forwards group is more or less settled, so change is always going to fall on the bottom-two forward lines, and bottom defensive pairing.

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Ultimately – and we’ve said this numerous times before now – the Leafs’ fortunes are going to center around their core four forwards, defenseman Morgan Rielly, and whatever goalie is riding a hot streak. But depth always matters, in the playoffs most of all, but you now need depth just to survive an increasingly harrowing schedule that’s leading to crazy amounts of injuries. Toronto has had their share – name me any NHL team equipped to lose their top two goalies, and I’ll show you a team that’s not at the top of the standings. Except for Vegas this year. But that exception proves the general rule: if you don’t have enough battlers to get you out of the trenches, you’re going to be in real trouble come playoff time.

This is why the Leafs’ experiments with their fringe components will continue on, right through the trade deadline and all the way to the end of the regular season. Dubas is consistently interested in giving head coach Sheldon Keefe as many options as the salary cap will allow, and for the most part, the Leafs aren’t wedded to big salaries for the majority of their non-core players. This is a season-long trial-by-fire, and by the time the playoffs roll around, Toronto must have their full top-12 forwards, and top-six D-men, firmly in place. Without some degree of roster certainty, winning a playoff round or two will be next to impossible.