Eat Sleep Leafs

With little available at the proper price-point in the free agent market and few moveable assets to speak of (not named Tomas Kaberle), Brian Burke did reasonably well in his efforts to land Kris Versteeg, Colby Armstrong, and Brett Lebda among others this summer.

But what still remains on the Leafs roster--as was the case to close last season--is a glaring lack of experience up front. 

Consider that no Leaf forward has ever totaled more than 60 points in a season (Phil Kessel tallied 60 with Boston in 08/09). Tampa Bay for comparison's sake has four players (Stamkos, Lecavalier, St. Louis, and Gagne) who've notched 70+ point at least once. Or that outside of Kessel, Versteeg, and Mikhail Grabovski, no Leaf forward has amassed more than 40 points in a season (Armstrong hit 40 twice: with Pittsburgh in 05/06 and Atlanta in 08/09). Or that grouped together, the Leafs forwards have amassed just six seasons of at least twenty goals (Kessel and Versteeg twice, Armstrong once, and Grabovski once). Former Panther and current Bruins winger Nathan Horton has five of at least twenty all by himself. And lastly consider that while still only 22 and with just 292 NHL regular season games to his name, Phil Kessel is the most experienced among the Leafs projected top six forwards.

Quite clearly, inexperience rules the day.

And while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it does leave a lot to be determined.

For instance: What kind of rookie impact should we expect from Nazem Kadri? Will he prove physically ready for the rigours of the NHL? Can Tyler Bozak perform over 82 games as he did in 37 rookie appearances last season (27 points)? Will Mikhail Grabovski bounce back from an injury-plagued second season? Is Nikolai Kulemin capable of 20 goals after sixteen last season? Where’s the next level for Phil Kessel? Are 40 goals and 70 points out of the question? How high will Kris Versteeg fly with greater opportunity in Toronto? Can he top his career-highs of 22 goals and 53 points? Will John Mitchell ascend after an injury-riddled, disappointing sophomore season? Will Christian Hanson, Luca Caputi, Marcel Mueller, and Brayden Irwin prove ready for prime-time NHL action this season?

So many questions and so few sure-fire answers.

All of which brings me back to Kaberle.

Holding onto the all-star defenseman simply wouldn’t make sense with such a pressing need for proven firepower up front. If there’s one thing Burke has on his roster, it’s NHL experience on defense. Not including Kaberle, the organization currently has eight blueliners—following the addition of Lebda from Detroit—with NHL experience, and in Korbinian Holzer, Simon Gysbers, Keith Aulie, Jiraj Mikus, improving assets on the Marlies. Granted, there’s no Kaberle-type in the mix, there’s certainly enough to get by more than serviceably.

 

The strength of the Leafs will and should lie on its ability to keep pucks out and I remained glued to the notion that improvement next season begins and ends with how well this club defends. But as far as the forwards go, we just don’t know enough to make accurate assumptions about next season and while that doesn’t exclude the group from success, it keeps the matter in the realm of unknown—which is both daunting and intriguing at the same time.

-J.Siegel
Twitter.com/jonas640