A message to Sens fan: I’m not previewing the Toronto Maple Leafs on Day 1 because I’m too excited to wait about writing about them. They just happened to be the second-worst team in the NHL and of course, we all know by now that they didn’t have the second pick in the draft as they drafted that away to the Boston Bruins.
I don’t want to get into my thoughts on the trade again, but you’ll never be able to convince me that they gave up too much to get Phil Kessel. The problem for the Leafs again this year is that Kessel represents the only true threat to score every single night. His 30 goals and 55 points in 70 games lead the team in both categories.
Who else is going to score for this team? Nobody else that finished the season with the Leafs scored more than 16 goals. The team seems to moving in the right direction as they continue to bring in new bodies like Kris Versteeg, Colby Armstrong and Clarke Macarthur, but none are pure scorers.
The Leafs are going to have to hope that young guys like Tyler Bozak, Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin can mature quickly enough to take on Top 6 minutes successfully. Averaging 2.5 goals a game and being last in the league in power play percentage is just not going to cut it.
Defensively, the focus all summer long was on Tomas Kaberle and whether he would be traded for forward help. Well, his trade deadline came and went and he’s still a member of the Leafs. Alongside Dion Phaneuf, Kaberle will look to lead this defence corps back on track after several guys had sub-par years.
Toronto will need a lot more from veterans Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek and third-year man Luke Schenn. At least Komisarek could point the finger to multiple injuries throughout the season, but Beauchemin and Schenn have nothing to blame but themselves. They simply need to be better.
Their goaltending tandem is more talented than a year ago with J.S. Giguere anointed as the starter and Jonas Gustavson as the backup in his second NHL season. Giguere is past his prime at this point, but he can do a lot to mentor the young Swede as he prepares to take over the position for the long term as early as late in the season.
Two players to watch out for in camp are Dion Phaneuf and Versteeg. Phaneuf is now the captain of the team and has reportedly embraced the role during the off-seeason. How will he handle the pressure of the position during the season, especially when things aren’t going right? Versteeg may turn out to be another example of someone that is over-valued because of being a part of a Stanley Cup winner. In Chicago, he was not a top-line player ad had little pressure. In Toronto, he will be required to contribute. Is he a true first-line player or a good complementary player?