Leafland Right Now
Simon B
Only this team can have such a drastic turnaround in a few days. We went from fans calling for Sheldon Keefe to be fired to suddenly beating two of the top teams in the league in back-to-back days with travel. Not forgetting that they lost netminder Ilya Samsonov halfway through the matchup against Boston. Now they have the challenge of facing a team that only a few weeks ago, started their west coast road trip misery; the Vegas Golden Knights. Looking at this turnaround through the eyes of a fan is something easy to do. But how do the Leafs see themselves internally? Many interviews given by the players have been pretty bland and cliche however, there are certain things that aren't said in interviews that can give hints as to why this team is such an up-and-down group over the first month of the season
Brass Uncertainty
All the pressure is on Kyle Dubas and his expiring contract come the season's end. I can easily see this affecting the way he has made roster moves and will continue to. It's almost as if Dubas is too worried to take risks because if they don't pan out, he's going to walk out the door (or get pushed out). We often see teams struggling with consistency have their GM or head coach come into the locker room and try to right the ship a little. Dubas seems like he's lost that communication with some of his players and he's trying to gain it back. Moves like putting Wayne Simmonds in and out of the lineup and leaving Nick Robertson in the press box more often than not show the lack of confidence that he seems to show in the group he created. It may only be a matter of time before this trickles down from management onto the ice.
Riding waves
Often times when a new player comes in and starts making a big impact on the team, it gives the group a massive boost. We saw this with Erik Kallgren last season when he came in a calmed the goaltending situation down. It gave the group some much-needed energy and they went on a little run. However, the novelty usually wears off after a couple of games and the team is right back into "answer-finding mode". This seems to be happening at the moment. The Leafs defense had one of the worst road trips I've seen in about 5 years (going back to the Roman Polak and Ron Hainsey days) but they came home and had a much better few games led by the heroic efforts of 41-year-old Mark Giordano. This is another case of a veteran stepping up because the younger guys don't know how but that's a story for another day. This boost in momentum got the team through the weekend but how long can they keep it going? I think it's up to the big-money players to answer that one.
Dollar Value
The one thing that has to remain constant throughout an entire season for a team to be successful is very simple: your best players need to be your best players. 47.6%. That's how much of the Salary Cap Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Reilly and Tavares make. This means that almost half of the team's player budget and therefore success on the ice needs to come from that group. So far, 60% of the points that the Leafs have scored this season (goals and assists) have come from that group which means that there is obviously a lack of depth and support from the other guys. That percentage would certainly not be as high without the outstanding performances of John Tavares through the first 13 games as it drops down to 45% without the captains' points. The part I find most intriguing is how people are ripping on Marner and Matthews but if you look at the face value of their contracts, you can see that they are actually overperforming in some categories.
Glad you're back into posting again. Your insight makes watching the games more interesting to me. Keep up the good words....Great photos too....
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