The holidays are just around the corner, and as the weather turns chilly, millions of kids worldwide are filling out their wish lists.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs faithful, wishful thinking is nothing new. For a fanbase that hasn’t won the Cup since 1967, the top of every wish list for a member of Leafs Nation is simple—a Stanley Cup. However, that’s easier said than done, so in today’s article I’ll be covering my wish list for the Toronto Maple Leafs for this season.
Morgan Rielly’s partner
No, I’m not talking about Tessa Virtue, although if she shoots right-handed I’m not opposed to the idea at this point. When the Leafs brought in Chris Tanev at the start of the season, much of the fanbase assumed that he was the solution to Morgan Rielly‘s endless carousel of defence partners. While the numbers were promising to start the year, the grizzled vet has had elite numbers in a shutdown role alongside Jake McCabe.
While Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been fine, he’s clearly still learning to make playing on his offside work. It’s no coincidence that the offence for OEL has dried up since being moved onto a pair with Rielly. He’s at his best on his natural side, and in order to maximize both OEL and Rielly, the Leafs need to find a cheap right shot who can hold his own on Rielly’s pair. The answer could be in-house with Hakanpaa, but his durability is a question mark, to say the least.
A middle-six forward
Michael Bunting left Toronto two seasons ago and GM Brad Treliving still hasn’t replaced his production. While Matthew Knies’ emergence has solved that to an extent, the team is running a myriad of either severely flawed or uninspiringly pedestrian options in their middle six. John Tavares and William Nylander have shown themselves to be class but with Pacioretty’s durability concerns and Max Domi’s inconsistent form, the Leafs find themselves with a host of young players still trying to make it stick at the NHL level.
Nicholas Robertson, Pontus Holmberg and Bobby McMann have all shown flashes throughout the season of being contributing NHL forwards, but none of them have shown the consistent quality to give the team or its coaching staff confidence heading into a seven-game playoff series. The Leafs need a stabilizing force in their middle, whether that be an Alex Killorn or Frank Vatrano.
Joseph Woll’s health
Anthony Stolarz took Leafs Nation by storm to start the year in Joseph Woll’s absence but the last seven games or so have reminded Leafs Nation why Woll was the goalie given a three-year, $3.66M AAV extension in the offseason. The Leafs have legitimately had the best goalie tandem in the NHL this season, and with two players who have never exceeded 40 starts in a year, both must remain healthy to keep themselves fresh for the playoff run.
Woll could very well be the future in net for Toronto, but to get to that point the 26-year-old needs to stay healthy. It may not be fair, but if he didn’t hurt himself making that save at the end of the game last year, the Leafs might’ve won the series against Boston.
Please let Fraser Minten be for real
The Tampa Bay Lightning played rookie 20-year-old Anthony Cirelli in 17 playoff games back in 2018 when Tampa was one game away from going to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Florida Panthers iced 20-year-old Anton Lundell in all nine of their playoff games in 2022, before he became a middle six fixture for them en route to their Stanley Cup two years later.
If Fraser Minten is as good as he’s been so far this year for the rest of the season there is no reason why the Leafs shouldn’t keep him in the playoff lineup. This team’s bottom six needs a push of youth and energy, and if Minten can be the Leafs’ Cirelli or Lundell on his ELC, it will do wonders for the team not just from a cap perspective, but from a roster and trade deadline flexibility perspective. Instead of the focus being on a third-line center, Treliving can opt for the best middle-six forward regardless of position.
Conclusion
Hope is a scary thing, but if all the things on this wish list come true, hope might evolve into something a little bit more real.
