After their disappointing 6-4 home loss to the Buffalo Sabres Saturday, the Toronto Maple Leafs are now a thoroughly mediocre 5-4-2 in the Atlantic Division standings. That’s not horrendous – they’re currently tied for fourth spot in the Atlantic, and they’re just three points behind second-place Detroit with a game in hand on the Red Wings – but it’s also far from ideal. Overall, here’s what we’ve learned about the Leafs thus far:
Joseph Woll needs to get the majority of starts in net
Woll was in net Saturday against the Sabres, but you couldn’t fault him for the Leafs’ loss to Buffalo. Toronto star winger Mitch Marner committed an egregious turnover – with the help of a terrible pass from Marner’s linemate Auston Matthews – that gave the Sabres life after a Buds goal. Woll can only do so much between the pipes, and it’s really up to the Leafs players in front of him to be better on defense.
Woll’s tandem-mate Ilya Samsonov had a decent bounce-back game against Boston this past week, but Woll deserves to play more games than him, at least for the moment. Leafs players look a bit more comfortable with Woll in net, and Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe will respond to that comfort by giving Woll more games than Samsonov.
Toronto needs help on defense
With Jake McCabe and Timothy Liljegren sidelined by injuries, the Leafs’ final defensive pairing of first-year Leaf Max Lajoie and William Lagesson did not inspire confidence in longtime Leafs watchers. Keefe barely played Lajoie and Lagesson against Buffalo, with Lagesson logging only 12:29 and Lajoie getting just 4:54 of ice time. That meant Leafs’ veteran D-men had to play much more than usual: Morgan Rielly had a team-high 26:42 of ice time; John Klingberg was the next-most-utilized Leafs’ blueliner with 25:04 of time; T.J. Brodie played 23:04, and greybeard Mark Giordano played 22:19. All of those totals are too high and probably unsustainable.
If Leafs GM Brad Treliving is being honest with himself, he knows something has to be done to improve his team’s defense corps. He doesn’t need to acquire a superstar defenseman, but he does need to shake the NHL tree to see who is available via trade and not wait until the trade deadline in the spring to pull off a deal. We knew coming into the season that defense was a concern for the Buds, and after 11 games, Leafs fans’ worst fears are being realized. The ‘D’ needs help, and it needs it sooner than later.
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Finally, the Leafs have to alter their fourth line of forwards
Toronto’s fourth line hasn’t done much of anything this season, particularly on offense. The trio of center Pontus Holmberg and wingers Ryan Reaves and Noah Gregor have combined for one point. Surely, the Leafs can be tapping into their American League affiliate, Toronto Marlies, to promote players who’ll give them a different look on the fourth line.
Keefe is a coach who has shown he loves having different options at all positions, but for one reason or another, the lines he’s using are basically the same from game to game. If that approach had been producing more wins, we’d be fine with it, but the fact the Maple Leafs are struggling means Treliving and Keefe should be trying other players in the fourth-line role and seeing if that changes anything for the better.
The Leafs brought Robertson up and sent Holmberg down. Although Holmberg hasn’t seemed to do anything more than 5 other AHL players they could bring up, having Robertson instead means now the Leafs are even weaker defensively from their bottom 6! In the end, I don’t think anyone the Leafs have in the AHL can change the dial much at all instead of who they’re playing anyway. The real answer is a new and hugely experienced head coach because ALL of the new players are performing worse than their usual.