Articles in Toronto Maple Leafs

Video is below.

from Nick Kypreos at the Toronto Star,

In some ways I feel bad for Michael Bunting.

What was once a source of pride in the Maple Leafs forward’s game — an uncanny ability to draw penalties and irritate the opposition — has turned into a distraction and it seems he and the Leafs are caught between a rock and a hard place on how to move forward with less than two weeks until the playoffs begin.

Is it solely on Bunting to figure out how to get past the predicament he finds himself in with NHL officials, or can Leafs president Brendan Shanahan or general manager Kyle Dubas lean hard on the NHL hockey operations department to cut Bunting some slack?

As someone who also loved to draw penalties during my playing days, I can tell you it gives players a great sense of accomplishment when you come back to the bench knowing you’ve given your team’s top guns two full minutes to alter the outcome of the hockey game.

First and foremost, let’s recognize that Bunting is among the league leaders in penalties drawn; it’s an accomplishment and it shouldn’t automatically label you a “diver.”

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update 9:57pm,

Below watch Curtis Joseph entering the building with his equipment.

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

So, when had Panthers squandered a fast 1-0 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs by surrendering what originally seemed like two preventable goals on consecutive second-period shifts, their coach blew a casket of Yosemite Sam proportions.

Calmed by his group’s dramatic 3-2 overtime comeback victory over the less-urgent Maple Leafs and relieved by two coveted points in the bank, Maurice could find the humour in his own temper tantrum.

“I thought it was a very nice opportunity to share feelings,” explained Maurice, who was given extra time to rant while he correctly challenged a Calle Järnkrok non-goal for offsides.

“That was not calculated. It was just honest. It was where I was at. If I could have yelled louder, if I found a f----n' way to be more profane than I was, I would have. I’m not gifted enough.

“I needed to channel my father, who's a gifted curser. That was all I had. I was honest. That's how I felt.”

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Below find two videos the first Paul Maurice let's his team have it and the second video is the game highlights.

from Luke Fox of Sportnet,

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Can’t wait to read fans debate the slow-motion video review ruling of a puck that may or may not have been deflected over the glass!

1. There is the mathematical assessment, and then there is the verbal assessment.

Let’s present both.

Here are the save percentages Matt Murray has recorded in his past five starts: .862, .846, .833, .500, .882.

Here is Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe’s assessment of Murray since his return from an ankle injury that kept him out of action for a month and a half: “I think he’s been great. The numbers look terrible. But again, here (Wednesday) night, I thought he was really good. I mean, there’s four tap-ins.”

We get it.

GM Kyle Dubas doubled down on his tandem at the deadline: “I am very confident in our goaltenders.”

It’s imperative the Toronto Maple Leafs — who don’t dress an Andrei Vasilevskiy- or Connor Hellebuyck-type workhorse — need a healthy and confident tandem heading into the post-season, and it serves the organization no good to publicly criticize any key player who needs to find his groove.

But a goalie cannot allow four goals in five straight starts – as Murray has for the first time in his eight-year career – and expect to be The Man when it matters. (Murray is free to mute all criticism with the two Stanley Cup rings plugging his ears.)

continue for more current NHL topics....

NEW YORK (March 12, 2023) – Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for slashing Edmonton Oilers defenseman Vincent Desharnais during NHL Game No. 1043 in Toronto on Saturday, March 11, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

The incident occurred at 3:41 of the third period. Tavares was assessed a minor penalty for slashing.

watch below

from Justin Bourne of Sportsnet,

The question I’m going to get into today is, if you’re the Toronto Maple Leafs, how much do you want to acknowledge the Lightning's players who try to drag you into scrums with face-washes and jawing and other forms of emotional warfare, when there’s an actual hockey game to be won? I think it’s well-established that no team wants to be a Sedin getting rabbit punched by Brad Marchand, they don’t want to be Auston Matthews not acknowledging the choke-out attempt from Ben Chiarot, they can’t just “turn the other cheek” for seven games when both cheeks are getting punched in. But you also can’t get lost in the sauce when there’s actual hockey to be played.

Fun facts on the Lightning’s “edge”:

This season they “lead” the NHL in PIMs, they’re second in fighting majors, and they’re first in misconducts. They live in the box, totalling an average of 12:10(!) in PIMs per game, which is up from last year when they finished second in PIMs per game with 11:30. That year they finished two seconds behind the Preds 11:32 per game, which was built on the back of Tanner Jeannot’s league-leading 14 fighting majors (among forwards), so … Tampa promptly traded for him.

A stunning fact: this is the 11^th straight season the Lightning have either finished first or second in the NHL in PIMs per game (it’s here I’ll note the presumably-pure-coincidence that this is Jon Cooper’s 11^th season with the team). I say “first or second,” but they’ve only been second twice and have lead the league nine times. The 2011-12 season was the last time they were outside the top-two, but what’s even crazier is you have to go back to 2005-06 to find a season where they weren’t top-5 in the NHL in PIMs per game.

Even with this history of playing an, er, abrasive game, it’s increasingly become a larger part of their identity.

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from Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star,

What happens if Ryan O’Reilly is really hurt? Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said an update could come Monday, when the team practises in New Jersey. He didn’t look thrilled.

Because O’Reilly’s status being up in the air has an uneasy similarity to, say, Nick Foligno, another veteran sandpaper star whom the Leafs acquired at the deadline some years ago, and who hurt his back three days in and was never the same player with Toronto as they missed their best chance ever to advance in the playoffs. That was the year they played in the Canadian Division, got Montreal in the first round, went up 3-1 in the series, outshot the Canadiens 13-2 in overtime in Game 6, and lost in Game 7. Maybe a healthy Foligno gets you through, instead of producing one assist in four playoff games. Toronto never got the chance to find out.

O’Reilly had been with the Leafs for a little over two weeks when Auston Matthews loaded up and blasted a slapshot Saturday night in Vancouver that hit O’Reilly; he shook his hand in pain, left the game, didn’t come back. The team didn’t update his status. He was just gone.

Maybe it’s a bruise and nothing more. But until the update comes it’s a worry, because O’Reilly is the jewel of the frantic Leafs trade deadline haul.

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from Justin Bourne of Sportsnet,

As of March 1 – two days before the NHL trade deadline – the Toronto Maple Leafs have brought in six new players and four draft picks to their fold, shipping out two others alongside six picks.

I don’t think they’re done.

Below are my thoughts on their moves over the past two days, and what I think comes next for the Leafs.

TRADE PARTNER: CHICAGO

In: Jake McCabe, Sam Lafferty, a 2024 conditional fifth-round pick, a 2025 conditional fifth-round pick

Out: 2025 conditional first rounder, 2026 second rounder, Joey Anderson, Pavel Gogolev

Quick take: While it’s impossible to know how these guys will play, it’s a tremendous deal for the Leafs. You get McCabe with two additional seasons (so three playoff runs), 50 per cent retained salary, making him a $2 million players who’s playing nearly 20 minutes a night and performing well this season. He brings an edge the Leafs lacked. Lafferty is cheap, has term, brings pace and edge. The fact that the Leafs brought back two picks with this package so they aren’t fully without any going forward is an under-discussed detail, too.

Their 2025 (top 10 protected) first and 2026 second weren’t going to help them for like five years. Huge win of a trade.

TRADE PARTNER: WASHINGTONIn: Erik Gustafsson, 2023 first-rounder (via Boston)Out: Rasmus Sandin

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from David Alter of Sports Illustrated,

Kyle Dubas continues to be busy.

One day after pulling off a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks that saw defenseman Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty become Toronto Maple Leafs, the club's general manager pulled off another move on Tuesday.

The Maple Leafs have reportedly traded defenseman Rasmus Sandin to the Washington Capitals in exchange for defenseman Erik Gustafsson and Boston's first-round draft pick.

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from Howard Berger of Between The Posts,

Any person that has followed the Maple Leafs though the years has seen batsh** crazy. It’s the hallmark of the franchise in the post–1967 era. But, never has the club gone quite as bonkers as during the Kyle Dubas era. This shooting–ducks–in–a–barrel approach to somehow escaping the toughest division in the National Hockey League is absolute bananas. Here is a general manager in whom ownership did not have enough confidence to extend beyond the current season. Yet, ownership is allowing him to systematically destroy the future of the franchise. I’m telling you from years of close observation: This could happen only in Toronto.

In my previous blog, I wrote “… the current GM hasn’t yet unloaded his first–round draft picks beyond 2023. Given, however, that survival is a primal instinct, how much longer can Dubas hold off before relinquishing whatever remains of the club’s immediate future?” The answer: two days — the time required for him to piss away yet another opening–round selection, this one in 2025, likely long after Kyle is an employee of the Maple Leafs. Jake McCabe is a decent blueliner, still in the prime of his career, yet will never be mentioned among Norris Trophy candidates. Additionally, he underwent a cervical–spine operation last September, hardly the equivalent of a sprained ankle. Any person that thinks adding another mid–range component to the underwhelming Toronto defense will lift the club past Tampa Bay and Boston this spring is whistling past the graveyard. If the Leafs were in the wide–open Western Conference, I could marginally comprehend the madcap dispersal of first–round picks. But, in the East? Having to almost certainly get past the Lightning, Bruins and either Carolina or the New York Rangers for a shot at the Cup? McCabe is going to offer that level of assurance? The franchise has gone batty.

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thanks for a pointer tweet from Spector's Hockey for the above

via the Toronto Maple Leafs,

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that after follow-up consultation this month with various specialists, our medical staff have determined that defenceman Jake Muzzin has been ruled out for the rest of the 2022-23 regular season and playoffs as he recovers from a cervical spine injury.

The club will provide a further update as to his status at training camp in September 2023. Muzzin skated in four games with the Maple Leafs this season and recorded one assist.

from Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail,

Brendan Shanahan is the original adult, and in many ways the only one that matters, but he can’t play. Lou Lamoriello was Adult #2. Mike Babcock was Adult #3. You see where this is headed.

You hire the right managers so they can hire the right players. Sexing up the Leafs executive goosed the recruitment drive. The new Leafs are never short of boldface names. Unfortunately, a lot of them were most boldfaced 10 years before they arrived.

Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Jason Spezza, Wayne Simmonds, Ron Hainsey, Nick Foligno, Jake Muzzin, Mark Giordano – they’re all the same guy. Thirty-something, father-figure types. Even temperament, strong air of competence, history of winning. Not necessarily difference makers on the ice. A couple of them were just barely NHL-level anymore. But full-grown adults.

All the same versions of this same guy have produced the same result. None of them have worked out. No matter how much middle-aged authority the Leafs pack their dressing room with, the kids still dominate.

If you’re being kind, they are mercurial. If you’re not, they are flakes.

How do you stiffen up a bunch of wobbly-kneed types? You keep doing what you were doing until the plan works out (maybe) or you get lucky (that sounds more like it). The Leafs’ latest Locker Room Dad is Ryan O’Reilly.

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Craig Button of TSN on the Ryan O'Reilly trade. He calls it a significant move by the Leafs.

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Positivity sucks the joy right out of the comments section.

1. OK, so Kyle Dubas won’t trade his first-round pick for a rental.

But, it turns out, under pressure — and for the right pieces — the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs will trade his first-round pick, a 2024 second-round pick, his better third-round pick, and a 2025 fourth-round pick for two rentals (salary retained).

Breathe easy, Leafs Nation. Matthew Knies is still Toronto property.

Get excited, Leafs Nation. Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari are on their way.

If you believed Dubas had been snake-bitten by 2021’s unfortunate rental of Nick Foligno for a first-round pick, you haven’t seen him with his back pressed against a wall.

Bo Horvat was off the board. Timo Meier felt too complicated and expensive. Patrick Kane looks risky.

O’Reilly — an Ontario native and a Conn Smythe and Selke Trophy champion — was the best realistic option to boost a forward group in need of depth.

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from the Toronto Maple Leafs,

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that the hockey club has acquired forwards Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari in a three-team trade with the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild.

St. Louis will receive forwards Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette, Toronto's first round selection in the 2023 NHL Draft, Ottawa's third round selection in the 2023 NHL Draft and Toronto's second round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft while Minnesota receives Toronto's fourth round selection in the 2025 NHL Draft.

St. Louis will retain 50% and Minnesota will retain 25% of O'Reilly's salary as part of the trade.

O'Reilly, 32, has collected 19 points (12 goals, seven assists) in 40 games with the Blues this season. In 978 career regular season NHL games with the Blues, Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Avalanche, the Clinton, Ontario native has recorded 691 points (252 goals, 439 assists) while adding 56 points (22 goals, 34 assists) in 64 career Stanley Cup playoff games. In 2019, O'Reilly was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy after leading the Blues to a Stanley Cup championship.

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from Nick Kypreos at the Toronto Star,

With 30 games left after the all-star break, it remains to be seen if last Friday’s 6-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators will go down as the Maple Leafs’ worst defeat of the season. But the fallout from that game is still very much a topic of conversation.

It begs the question: How will Matt Murray’s unexpected missed start shape the way Leafs management views this team’s goaltending situation heading into the final stretch of the season?

Wednesday night’s 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins didn’t exactly help the case for Ilya Samsonov, who allowed three goals on seven shots in the third period. How comfortable will they feel with whoever is staring down Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Ironically, the current situation is eerily similar to the one that played out with former Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen in the Amazon Prime docuseries “All or Nothing” that followed the team during the 2020-21 season.

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from Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun,

From morning til night, the Maple Leafs were engaged in a strange disappearing act.

First, it was Auston Matthews, absent from the Friday morning skate with what turned out to be a knee strain that will sideline him three weeks. Then goalie Matt Murray, who led them out for the game against Ottawa, was on the bench for O Canada with what coach Sheldon Keefe said later significantly “flared up on him”, a new injury that will keep him out a few games and require a callup from the Marlies.

It put Ilya Samsonov in a difficult position on a night he was supposed to be resting and the hungry Ottawa Senators then phased out the discombobulated Leafs 6-2, scoring early and often at Scotiabank Arena.

Murray could not have played had Samsonov been hurt said Keefe and the arena’s emergency backup goaltender was on alert.

“It put Sammy in a terrible, terrible spot,” Keefe said. “And we didn’t take care of him when he was in there.

“To me, it was a game of missed opportunities and poorly timed penalties that were momentum-drainers.”

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Game highlights are below.

via Sportsnet's YouTube page,

Jason Priestley joined Christine Simpson on The Big Picture to discuss his new documentary, 'Offside: The Harold Ballard Story'. Priestley talks about the film and gives his perspective on the life of the enigmatic Toronto Maple Leafs owner.

from Damien Cox at the Toronto Star,

In the past six games heading into Saturday’s road date with the Colorado Avalanche, the Leafs have won three and lost three. No big deal. But part of that has been a regression to the norm for Murray and Samsonov, both of whom were in the NHL’s top six in save percentage after the romp over the Ducks.

That regression hasn’t been due to overwork. In four of those six games, the Leafs have allowed 21 shots or fewer. But they’ve still allowed 19 goals (not counting empty-netters) on 140 total shots for a team save percentage of .864. Murray faced only 59 shots in three outings and gave up seven goals, including four to a bad Arizona team in a 6-3 defeat Thursday night. Samsonov, with more work, has surrendered 12 goals on 81 shots.

This may be a blip. The NHL schedule gets goofy around this time of year with the Christmas break. The first 30 games is also a larger sample size than the last six.

At the same time, it seemed unlikely that Murray and Samsonov had both suddenly found a higher level just by pulling Leafs jerseys over their heads. Their play of late feels a little like Paul Simon’s famous lyric: “Slip slidin’ away/you know the nearer your destination the more you’re slip slidin’ away.”

The destination, in this case, is the post-season. As the Leafs know well from the Freddie Andersen years, it’s once thing to look like one of the NHL’s best goalies in November, and quite another to look that way in April.

As 2023 dawns, the Leafs still don’t have a No. 1 goalie. By contrast, Tampa has used Vasilevsky for 25 games and Brian Elliott for nine. Boston has leaned more on Linus Ullmark than Jeremy Swayman, and both have been rock solid. These are likely the teams the Leafs will have to defeat in the spring.

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NEW YORK (Dec. 28, 2022) – Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe has been fined $25,000 for demeaning conduct directed at the officials during NHL Game No. 553 in St. Louis on Tuesday, Dec. 27, the National Hockey League announced today.

The fine money goes to the NHL Foundation.

NEW YORK (Dec. 28, 2022) – The National Hockey League announced today that it has fined the Toronto Maple Leafs' organization $100,000 for the team's travel to St. Louis on Dec. 26, 2022. This team activity was in violation of Article 16.5(b) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association.

The fine money goes to the NHL Foundation.