BUNDLE OF SURPRISES

Nick De Cicco

The Toronto Maple Leafs have gotten off on the wrong foot this season with an average start that hasn’t lived up to the hype, at least not to Head Coach Sheldon Keefe’s expectations. The buds are incredibly talented for the lineups they put out on the ice, but haven’t produced to their full potential. They’ve seen bits of greatness and complete embarrassment in areas of their game that you wouldn’t expect.

Coming into the season, the goaltending options have been questionable because of the poor performances from Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov on their former teams. Surprisingly, the Leafs losses haven't been caused by bad action between the pipes. Murray was injured with a groin issue during practice and honestly, I thought a Murray injury was inevitable considering his history.

I would have thought that he would have lasted for at least 10 starts without any problems, but I digress. As I foreshadowed in a previous article going into the preseason, Samsonov has essentially become the starter in replacement of Murray and Erik Kallgren has assumed the backup role. Ilya has confidence from the Toronto locker room and he is backed by some great personnel. Samsonov has been solid between the pipes in the combination of wins and losses.

The most surprising part of this bumpy start is the lackluster production from the offense. I have already spoken of Matthews’ woes and some reasoning behind that. Additionally, the buds have averaged 2-3 goals per game that has kept the losing efforts close, but not enough.

The rapid scoring of last season needs to reignite and come from all lines. The bottom six had a focal point in improving during the offseason, but when the minutes are maxed on the “Core 4”, there’s nothing left for the remaining talent. Calle Jarnkrok, Dennis Malgin and David Kampf needs to pop off along with the rest of the bottom six.

Defensively, there has been a significant concern because of the lacking movement in that department. A thinning defense core has me concerned with injuries to Muzzin and Liljegren and the inability to keep the puck out of their own net.

There were opportunities to upgrade the defense, but we see the same faces from last season. The defensive side of the Leafs game has been criticized for years, but the focus should be put on improving the team in all areas to work as a coherent unit.

Coaching could also be the reason because of the pressure facing management to succeed and Sheldon Keene being stretched thin. His philosophy of shifting the lines up is odd because if something is working, why mess with positive results? Even when things aren’t going right, letting the athletes dig themselves out of the hole could be more beneficial than causing a commotion with line changes.

Anyways, it’s early and nothing should be thrown out of proportion. No jerseys should be tossed on the ice like in Vancouver. The Leafs will be fine, they’ll bounce back. The early jitters will shake off eventually and the team will find the consistent winning ways soon enough.