Toronto Maple Leafs: Sense of urgency in the air

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a deflating start to the 2019-2020 season. Will they be able to turn things around on their own or is drastic change necessary?

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 0-4-1 in their last five games. They have yet to beat a legitimate hockey team all season. Injuries have been piling on lately and Leafs Nation is calling for head coach Mike Babcock’s head. How did they sink to this lowest of lows?

Entering the 2019-2020 season, the Maple Leafs were considered one of the top teams in the NHL. Instead, halfway through November, they sit fourth in the Atlantic division with a pathetic 9-9-4 record. There are a lot of excuses that can be made to justify this record.

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1. Tough October schedule

The Leafs had four back-to-back games in the month of October, winning none of the second-halves thanks to Michael Hutchison’s sub-stellar play. People can say that the team in front of him wasn’t good, but the point of a backup goaltender is to steal games and Hutchison didn’t do that. They played 14 games in October and are one of just four other teams that have played 21 games already.

Rebuttal: The other four teams that have already reached the 21-game mark are the Washington Capitals, Edmonton Oilers, Detroit Red Wings, and Calgary Flames. Two of those four teams are top in their divisions. The Capitals and Oilers took advantage of an early workload to rack up points and propel themselves up the standings and the Leafs did not. Plain and simple.

2. Injury train

The Leafs came into the season without Zach Hyman and Travis Dermott. Then, John Tavares went out with a broken hand and Mitch Marner and Alexander Kerfoot quickly followed with injuries of their own. These are key players for the Leafs and they have yet to ice a fully healthy roster.

Rebuttal: Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, Frederik Andersen. Do you know what they have in common? They have all been healthy so far. What is supposed to make this Leafs team so deadly is their never-ending depth of talent up front but they have been unable to show it. (Other than Matthews) Tavares returned from injury and the Leafs went 2-3-1. Not good enough. This team has the personnel to navigate through these injuries and the players are just not stepping up.

3. Mike Babcock

The Leafs’ special teams have been abysmal, and when the team is trailing, he still rolls all four lines as if they were in the lead. Why is Cody Ceci on the top pairing with Morgan Rielly? Why does Jason Spezza not get consistent playing time?

The biggest outrage however, is the ice-time of the star players. Why does Auston Matthews only average 19:55 minutes of ice time a night? Or Tavares with 18:20?. Especially with so many injuries you would think that these players would see an increase.

Rebuttal: There are very valid points to the criticism of Mike Babcock’s decisions. However, if you look at the four seasons that Matthews has played so far, you can see that there has been an increase in ice time every single year. His rookie season was 17:38 and his 19:55 this season is a career-high. William Nylander went from 15:38 last season to 18:00 this year. Tavares has seen a dip but part of that is because of his broken hand and Babcock easing him back into the flow of things.

Matthews has played 21+ minutes a night eight times this season. In those eight games, the team has a record of 3-2-3. When Tavares has played 20+ minutes, the team is 0-2-1. It’s easy to criticize deployment, but at the end of the day, the players just have not been good enough.

Confidence is good. Anger is good. Passiveness kills. This team just does not seem to care anymore which is dangerous. On Friday night against the Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand scored the go-ahead goal at the beginning of the third period.

Here’s the bright spot. They are about to go on a six-game road trip and 11 of their next 13 games will be on the road. They’ll get time to bond as a team, get away from the mounting fan pressure and recharge.

Tavares said after the game that there is a sense of urgency in the locker room to turn things around and Matthews said they are capable of being greater than they are right now. The team leaders have spoken and it’s time to turn their words into action.