Leaf Nation, one of hockey’s largest, yet least-loved fan bases has been unofficially, yet unmistakably re-branded as Tank Nation. For now…
Maple Leafs Draft Hopes Have Never Been Higher
The Toronto Maple Leafs are heading into familiar territory, as the NHL season rounds the corner into the remaining thirty-odd games. Predictably, the Leafs are bound to be big sellers as we approach the February 29th trade deadline, and with the quality performances of several senior players on expiring deals, the focus is to acquire as many draft picks and prospects as possible in an effort to fortify a once-depleted talent pool.
Expect to see names like Roman Polak, Michael Grabner, Mark Arcobello, Shawn Matthias, Brad Boyes and P.A. Parenteau regularly in the media until March 1, as the Leafs look to leverage their assets in hopes of a more promising tomorrow. While Polak looks to be the name that appears most frequently, Arcobello has three goals in his last three games. The diminutive forward amassed 44 points in just 34 games with the Marlies this season, and would certainly be an attractive, affordable depth scoring piece to any contender’s roster.
While less likely, it wouldn’t surprise to see any of James Reimer, Jonathan Bernier, Nick Spaling, Rich Klune, Daniel Winnik, Matt Hunwick, Leo Komarov, Tyler Bozak, and even Nazem Kadri moved out as the Leafs brain trust continues to engineer what they believe to be a core group capable of leading the league’s least-successful brand out of the wilderness over the next few seasons. Speculation that Kadri has been “coached up” for the purpose of making him an attractive trade piece will no doubt continue right up to the draft, or until the pending restricted free agent is re-signed.
That core group Leafs brass envisions is most likely to be based around the talents of Morgan Rielly, possibly Jake Gardiner and James van Riemsdyk, and almost certainly, prospects William Nylander and Mitch Marner. While that group may be the best the Leafs have tabled in decades, is it good enough to match up against the league’s elite, or are they all just really good complimentary pieces?
The recent flushing of the Dion Phaneuf contract will affect the Leafs’ year-end result – either positively or negatively – depending on your perspective on tanking in order to receive a more favourable draft position. Whether by design or just good fortune, a Leafs lottery draft pick is all but guaranteed at this stage, with newly-acquired winger Milan Michalek, Bozak, van Riemsdyk and Joffrey Lupul occupying spots on the injured reserve list, meaning that a number of prospects will be called up in relief in the weeks to come. Unanimously anointed first overall draftee-in-waiting Auston Matthews is the name on every Leaf fan’s lips, and without question, the slick centreman currently plying his trade in Zurich, Switzerland would immediately become Leaf Nation’s own version of Oilers phenom Connor McDavid, should Toronto come out on top at the draft lottery.
If Toronto lands Matthews come June 24th, they will acquire their first franchise centreman since Mats Sundin, with the strongest supporting cast Leaf fans have seen since the advent of coloured television. Matthews is an absolutely electric offensive catalyst with the size, the tools and the IQ to break a game wide open. Check out the LWOS scouting report on Matthews her.
Currently in 30th place in the NHL standings with 49 points, the Leafs have played exactly three less games than the Edmonton Oilers, who have 50, and the next-best shot at the top pick, which would augment an existing collection of four top-spot draftees in the modern era.
The thought of an Oilers forward group consisting of Matthews, McDavid, Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov, Jordan Eberle, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – all first round picks, and five of those being first overall – just seems unfair, and contrary to the intent of the lottery system, which is to encourage equitable distribution of incoming talent in order to bolster the league’s less profitable markets. But, that’s a discussion for another day…
In order to become viable, the NHL’s cash-cow franchise needs fresh horses, and by horses, we mean thoroughbreds, not milk-wagon pulling beasts of burden. We are talking stallion-like franchise pieces like Jonathan Toews and Anze Kopitar; the kind of hockey studs that breed sustainable success.
The patchwork-quilt of talent that the Leafs had stitched together across the last three or four management regimes was glaringly devoid of a few essential elements intrinsic to any contender’s roster. Without a bona fide top line centre, an elite-level defender along the lines of a Drew Doughty, a Shea Weber or a Duncan Keith, and a goaltender able to compete consistently and stay healthy, Toronto would never move into that top 5-6 list of perennial contenders.
Nothing about the former model was sustainable, and the current management regime has done a fantastic job of mitigating the impact of those mistakes. The task at hand is to stay the course and build a core group that will be able to grow together as the Mike Babcock system takes root. Best-case scenario is that Toronto is able to draft high for another year without intentionally bottoming out, before taking some real strides towards respectability.
This is the first time in modern history that the Leafs have truly hit the re-set button and put any thought into engineering a core group that can compete, as opposed to the one-step-forward-two-back, mistake-ridden treadmill that they have been plodding on for no less than a decade. Whether we want to call it a deliberate tanking effort or just good fortune, Toronto is poised to pick a game-breaker in Buffalo this summer, and with the crop of talent either already, or soon to be in place, we can be reasonably assured that whomever is selected, he won’t be expected to be an army of one, as has been the case in previous years.
There is a formidable assortment of draft-eligible talent emerging in June, and the Leafs have eleven picks to date, with at least a couple more likely to appear as a result of deadline day deals. That’s a lot of talent about to enter the pipeline.
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