Articles in Toronto Maple Leafs

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

Jake McCabe was thinking about it Thursday in sunny Las Vegas, in the middle of back-to-back jacks, sometime between wins five and six of the best and most consistent stretch of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey all winter.

When did things click?

What allowed a group so often praised or ripped for its top heaviness to find a little balance and a lot of buy-in? To reel off a six-pack of convincing wins by a cumulative score of 34-14?

To fight through fatigue and stomp the Vegas Golden Knights 7-3 Thursday in their own bass-boosted barn and leap over the reigning Stanley Cup champions to enter the NHL's top 10 in points percentage (.636)?

McCabe pointed to Feb. 13's home date against the St. Louis Blues, the first game of Morgan Rielly's suspension, when core forwards Mitch Marner and John Tavares came down ill, and the supporting cast was suddenly called upon to read lines intended for the leads.

McCabe thought of Bobby McMann's hat trick that evening, but the effort and purpose spread well beyond the actions of one unlikely hero. It was all hands on deck.

"We played such a simple and north and heavy game. And fast. Got in on the forecheck. And we've kind of continued that here through this stretch," McCabe said inside T-Mobile Arena, after slapping his sixth goal of the season, a career best.

"Building an identity and building confidence within that structure has been really important for us, and it's paying dividends for us."

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Game highlights are below.

In 54 games, the second time Matthews has hit the 50 goal mark.

from Steven Ellis of The Daily Faceoff,

When Tyler Bertuzzi signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 2, it looked like a win-win for both sides.

Bertuzzi needed a chance to bounce back after a difficult 2022-23 season. He had 30 points in 50 games between Detroit and Boston last season after dealing with multiple hand injuries. After he scored a career-best 62 points in 2021-22, Bertuzzi and the Leafs were hoping to see him bounce back and be healthy this season.

Health-wise? All’s good. Performance-wise? The opposite.

Bertuzzi enters Wednesday’s meeting with the Arizona Coyotes with 22 points in 53 games. Previously a 30-goal scorer, Bertuzzi is on pace for just 11 this year – the lowest he’s had in any season with at least 50 games played.

His struggles have been well-documented, and his $5.5 million cap hit makes him very, very difficult to trade. So that’s not an option. Getting him back on track is. Coach Sheldon Keefe finally put Bertuzzi on the power play against Anaheim, scoring one of Toronto’s nine goals in a blowout victory.

Great. That’s good to see. But with two goals in his past 32 games, there hasn’t been much celebrating from No. 59.

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EW YORK (Feb. 20, 2024) – National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman today affirmed the five-game suspension that was assessed to Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly for cross-checking Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig during NHL Game No. 812 in Ottawa on Saturday, Feb. 10.

Commissioner Bettman heard Rielly’s appeal of the original decision, assessed Feb. 13, at a hearing on Feb. 16.

The incident occurred at 19:54 of the third period. Rielly was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for cross-checking.

original post was on 2/10/24 at 9:48pm,

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

This story of this one-goal game can be boiled down to one play.

And, no, that play is not Auston Matthews' game-winning goal in overtime to allow his Toronto Maple Leafs to escape with a 1-0 victory and steal two ugly points from the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday. (Even Matthews is happy to concede that.)

The play of grave concern and wonderful consequence occurred in the second period, with the Maple Leafs' star-studded top power-play unit extending its shift and principles Matthews and Mitch Marner committing an atrocious line change as the Jets' penalty killers rushed against the grain.

Toronto's best players' lack of detail paved way for the rare shorthanded 2-on-0 rush.

"Not typical moment, yeah?" Ilya Samsonov thought, as killers Morgan Barron and Adam Lowry came barrelling down on his crease untouched in a 0-0 goalie duel.

Tic-tac-toe, Lowery and Barron played catch with each other. One ripped a shot, the other tried pounding home an uncontested rebound.

Samsonov stoned them both, while Matthews and Marner were busy catching their breath safely on the bench.

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Game highlights are below.

from Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun,

The Edmonton Oilers simply don’t lose hockey games.

Against a Maple Leafs team that is experiencing some big-time issues, that wasn’t about to change.

A 2-0 Leafs lead on Tuesday night in Edmonton seemed too good to be true, and sure enough, it was.

When Ryan McLeod beat a screened Martin Jones — by Connor McDavid, no less — at 16:55 of the third period, the Oilers needed no more, scoring their third unanswered goal in a 4-2 win.

An empty-net goal by Evan Bouchard put an exclamation mark on the Oilers’ 11th win in a row.

For the second time this season and first since Oct. 24-Nov. 4, the Leafs have lost four games in a row. It won’t get any easier as their four-game trip continues in Calgary against the Flames on Thursday.

As much as the Leafs have played uneven hockey this season, it was just the fourth time they lost in regulation on the road. That won’t dampen speculation that it’s time for a coaching change, though it could take some heat off Sheldon Keefe if the Leafs can pull it together and win a couple before they return home to face the Winnipeg Jets next Wednesday.

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Game highlights are below.

Team sport isn’t about individuals. It isn’t about contracts. It isn’t about trophies and all-star team choices.

It’s about a group of players coming together, working together, playing a system, playing with structure, playing with intensity, working in cohesion with the coaching staff.

Right now, the Maple Leafs are none of those things.

-Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun where you can read more on the Leafs.

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

Another 12 goalies were signed to NHL contracts — including Ilya Samsonov post arbitration — before the Maple Leafs got around to finalizing their deal on Jones, some seven weeks after the free agency process began.

In all, it took some lost offers, missed opportunities, clarity on the condition of Matt Murray, and a touch of good fortune for the Leafs to sign Jones on Aug. 9 for the same money David Rittich signed for in Los Angeles as the first goalie reportedly signed for on July 1.

“We talked for a long time to get a deal done” said Brad Treliving, the Leafs general manager. “Our first reaction after signing him was — ‘great’. Our second reaction was ‘Can we get him through waivers in two months time?’

“It used to be you needed two goalies to get through a season. Now if you look around, you need three.”

Jones, the 29th goalie signed last summer in free agency, cleared waivers in October and has since become paramount for the Maple Leafs success. Playing behind a spotty defensive team, Jones ranks second in the NHL in goals against average and second in league save percentage....

“We were surprised he was available to be honest,” said Treliving. “Everybody has their own situation every year, they do the math, they look around, they see what’s available. It’s like playing musical chairs. You count how many seats there are available and there are only two per team.
“He told us at the beginning he would be competing for a spot on the Leafs.”

more and other notes on hockey

from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

Originally, the Maple Leafs hoped they could get this done for under eight figures ($10M), but those plans are at the bottom of some landfill. They accept this is going to be a massive deal. The question is: how massive?

Toronto wants this done. The Maple Leafs recognize his value, and would like certainty from him as they consider moves elsewhere around the roster. They are prepared to throw (even more) wads of cash at him.

“It would take a lot for me to want to leave Toronto,” Nylander said last August during the NHL/NHLPA Stockholm tour. Nothing he’s said or done since has made any feel differently, and while he won’t say anything publicly, he’s definitely receptive to what’s being offered.

This is a unique negotiation because of Michael Nylander. Honestly, I feel gross writing it because I hate bringing up family when it comes to this stuff. But it is a factor and why everyone is so careful in discussing where things stand. He plays a major role in these conversations and William is very loyal, as you would expect.

Again, the key principals are not talking, but there’s definitely feeling this will get done fast if there are four important yesses: team, player, agent and family.

more

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

William Nylander keeps reminding the Toronto Maple Leafs how important he is to the team's success.

This should make his reportedly imminent whopper of a contract extension a little more digestible for the executives cutting those eight-figure cheques and a diehard fan base who studies salary-cap charts closer than box scores.

A few hours prior to Nylander's two-goal, six-shot performance Tuesday in the Maple Leafs' clean 3-0 road win over the Los Angeles Kings, Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos reported that 2024's most coveted impending unrestricted free agent had been engaged in positive negotiations with GM Brad Treliving.

In the works is the blueprint for an eight-year deal that would net the stud winger approximately $11.25 million annually and about $90 million in total — the same AAV that Nylander's friend, winger David Pastrnak, netted from Boston early in 2023 before his own bargain deal expired.

Elliotte Friedman added that the paperwork on a Nylander extension could be completed as early as this week, and that the team would prefer to take care of its top business priority before hosting the All-Star Game in February.

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from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,\

Surely, this is the end for Ilya Samsonov as a Maple Leaf.

They can’t start him any longer. They can’t trust him. They can’t believe in him in any way.

And once the trust is broken between team and coach and goaltender — each of those has to be working in sync for success — it becomes a matter almost impossible to repair.

Samsonov has reached the awkward hold-your-breath stage of NHL goalies. When every shot is taken you wonder: ‘Is it going in, how is it going in?’ And no team can operate with that kind of uncertainty at its most important position.

We can see it from afar. The players can see it up close. The coach, Sheldon Keefe, is living it and is privately livid about it. When the Leafs need to score five, six or seven goals to have a chance to win on any night with Samsonov in net, they have no hope of moving forward.

This is not unlike what happened to Alek Manoah last summer with the Blue Jays. A starting pitcher is alone on the mound and vulnerable in the same way a goaltender is the last line of defence in hockey. When Manoah couldn’t get anyone out, the Blue Jays removed him from their rotation and eventually from the roster.

In the salary-capped National Hockey League, the moving of players is not as simple. The Leafs are searching for an answer, another goalie, another body, somebody to get in the way of a puck. Nobody in hockey is ready to do them a favour.

This is the first crisis for Brad Treliving as general manager of the club.

continued plus more hockey topics

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

Enough is enough.

Uncle.

Ilya Samsonov and the Toronto Maple Leafs need a break from each other.

To keep trotting out the goaltender who opened the season as the club's Number 1 option is to ask your fans to close their eyes and cross your fingers on the opposition's every scoring chance.

It's asking your skaters to score six.

It's asking your coach to watch valuable standings points slip through fingers. Or, rather, through legs, under arms and over heads.

Sheldon Keefe surely has spoken to his general manager, Brad Treliving, privately about the matter multiple times.

But it's telling how desperate the Samsonov situation became Friday night, following Toronto's second 6-5 overtime loss to the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, that Keefe politely requested his boss do something about the cavern in the crease.

"Mistakes get magnified when you don't get saves," Keefe told reporters at Nationwide Arena.

"It’s the NHL. We need saves, we need points, and we need wins, so I’m sure Tre is going to consider everything."

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Below are the game highlights.

from Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun,

Ilya Samsonov is not in a good headspace.

The Maple Leafs goaltender acknowledged as much following Toronto’s worst loss in several years, a 9-3 drubbing at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Arena.

Samsonov’s struggles have become a theme, and it got really bad on Thursday night, as the 26-year-old was pulled after giving up five goals on 19 shots.

“It’s tough right now,” Samsonov said. “I need to figure out everything in my head. That’s the first one. It’s not about technique … just in the head. I need to figure it out.

“I want to try to get change as quick as I can, but sometimes in life it’s not working like that. I will keep fighting.”

Samsonov’s teammates were terrible in front of him. The Leafs gave up nine goals in a game for the first time since Nov. 18, 2014, when they lost 9-2 at home against Nashville.

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Game highlights are below.

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

Frozen rubber on ice. Twelve bodies and 12 sticks crisscrossing a confined space at high speeds and zipping that vulcanized black thing at even faster ones.

Hockey's randomness blesses and curses its participants with (un)lucky bounces, and there was no question which of the two Eastern Conference titans benefitted from the puck's happier fortunes on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena.

"Three goals, three kind of fluky bounces," Auston Matthews shrugged, following the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 loss at home to the New York Rangers.

Because the score belies the performance, no one on the Rangers was overly celebratory. No one on the Leafs was bemoaning a weak effort.

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Game highlights are below.

from Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun,

The Maple Leafs are going to have to get by without the goalie who had emerged as their No. 1 guy in net.

Joseph Woll will “miss time, for sure,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said after the 25-year-old was hurt in the third period of Toronto’s 4-3 win in Ottawa on Thursday night.

“It’s unfortunate,” Keefe told reporters at the Canadian Tire Centre after the Leafs beat the Senators. “He has been playing so well, building such great momentum on his season and his career. It’s a setback.

“We will determine the extent of it once we get home. He’s a big reason why we get two points.”

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watch the injury below

from Damien Cox at the Toronto Star,

The Maple Leafs can’t build a comfortable lead, and they can’t comfortably hold a lead. Which puts them comfortably in an Eastern Conference wild-card berth, which won’t make anybody comfortable.

This, of course, is why it is so very hard for first-year general manager Brad Treliving to sit back and enjoy his maiden voyage. The narrative with the Leafs is surging wildly between highs and lows, sometimes within single periods.

Eleven of Toronto’s 22 games this season, including Saturday night’s 4-3 loss to Boston, have gone to overtime. Sure it’s been entertaining, but it also puts a little added stress on the Leafs’ best players each time it happens. The hope is that a player like William Nylander can always be the hero, but in three-on-three hockey, he can also be the goat. That’s what happened against the Bruins with his untimely wipeout.

Other than back-to-back 4-1 wins over Washington and Minnesota in late October, the Leafs generally haven’t been able to cruise to many straightforward victories this season. Other than an ugly 4-1 loss to Los Angeles on home ice and a 6-3 loss to the Senators, they also haven’t been decisively thumped too often.

Most of the time, Treliving’s team is in a third-period tug of war, either hanging on desperately or desperately trying to equalize. They can surely fight back when they fall behind, as they did against the Bruins on Saturday. The Leafs erased 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, the latter with just seconds remaining, to force yet another extra session.

So it’s a rather complex question as to what element, or elements, might make the Leafs a bit more successful and allow Treliving and head coach Sheldon Keefe to relax once in a while.

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from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

The good news: The Leafs are 7-4 beyond the 60th minute, slowly stacking points and staying in the thick of the Atlantic race as they ride through their blueline injuries and manage some structural hiccups and individual mini slumps.

More good news: Getting accustomed to battling through tight scores and rallying late is a character-building exercise that could come in handy when the results matter most.

"I thought our team was unbelievable," said Woll, not too shabby himself in a 36-save showing. "We looked really good against one of the top teams in the league. Pretty awesome to see us fight back and get the point there."

The bad news: Only one team in the league has fewer regulation wins than Toronto's five (rebuilding Montreal has four), and at last check, the playoffs still don't offer 3-on-3 skill shows or breakaway contests.

More bad news: Unlike Saturday, Toronto has blown leads and often allowed its opponent to push them into OT.

"The points we're accumulating, they're not nothing. Those are important," Keefe said earlier this week, hyperaware of the can't-get-it-done-in-60 narrative.

"We know we need to get better, and we will get better."

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Below are the game highlights of Toronto's OT loss to Boston.

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

New GM, new role players, new mandate.

Same coach, same nucleus, similar slot in the standings.

Despite a few off-season tweaks and a supposedly snottier ethos, the Toronto Maple Leafs enter the 20-game mark looking like a flawed group carried by spurts of the fantastic.

In other words: a decent and top-heavy regular-season team but hardly one that, as currently constructed, grades well against top-of-the-class Stanley Cup contenders.

Where are they relative to expectations?

With the Boston Bruins losing their two best centremen, the Florida Panthers limping into October ravaged by injury, and the Tampa Bay Lightning getting taxed by old age and a hard cap, 2023-24 was viewed by many as the season Toronto should finally win the Atlantic Division's regular-season crown.

Not so fast.

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from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,

So I reached out to team executives in rival front offices across the NHL and asked them a simple question: What do you feel a fair contract extension for Nylander would be?

Team exec No. 2

“I don’t see how it’s less than $11 million, given the rising cap and the season he’s having … unless he wants to take a discount to go to a destination of choice. On a seven- to eight-year deal, that is.”

Team exec No. 3

“My guess is that it comes in around $10.5 to $11 million, depending on the term.”

Team exec No. 4

“Difficult question, Pierre. What is fair and what will happen are two different things (smiley face emoji). He will be 28, has never hit 90 points (although certainly seems he will this season) and has never been past the second round of the playoffs, and only there once. But our system pays on points — rightly or wrongly — and he will have a strong case. Does he help Toronto win more than Matthew Tkachuk at $9.5 million? Probably not. But the cap is going up and Toronto pays a tax premium. $10 million (average annual value), full term. Probably gets more but fair is arbitrary.”

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