Talk Increasing of Maple Leafs As a ‘Legit’ Playoff Team

They haven’t seen post-season action since 2004, or held a Stanley Cup since 1967. But the Toronto Maple Leafs are earning more accolades, and observers inside and outside of the NHL are saying the Blue and White are definite playoff contenders.

Take Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien. He knows how to cajole a Cup-winning performance from a team, and he sees the right things from his Northeast Division rivals. “They’ve done a good job with that team,” Julien said in an interview prior to the Bruins’ game against the Leafs Thursday night. “They’ve definitely tightened up their game. I’m one of those guys who believe they are a legit contender.”

Bruins forward Brad Marchand is noticing the changes, too. “Different coach, different management, it looks like they have a whole new mentality over there,” Marchand said. “It looks like they have a lot of confidence right now. … They’re a tough team because they definitely work hard and are very physical. They are buying into their system.”

The system they have set up looks like it’s working well so far. The youth movement is paying fine dividends: Nazem Kadri (22 years old) and James van Riemsdyk (23) lead respectively in total points (24) and goals (13), while 25-year-old defenceman Cody Franson has the second-best plus-minus on the team at plus-11. Ben Scrivens and (despite his recent injury woes) James Reimer — who will turn 25 next week — are rounding into excellent goaltenders: both have a goals-against average around 2.50 and save percentages above .920 to this point.

Those stats have translated into positive results: they’ve won three in a row with seven victories in their last 10, and a solid 9-4-0 road record (6-5-0 at home). Randy Carlyle is already being mentioned as a potential Coach of the Year candidate, but he knows there’s still a long way to go.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Carlyle said when asked if liked the way his team performed in the first 24 games. “Some nights I do. Some nights I don’t. … We haven’t had too many nights where we had everything going.”

Carlyle isn’t the only one who’s not buying into the hype just yet. This blogger thinks the scrappy, face-punching Buds could face some karmic retribution. Depth may also become an issue, but the AHL Marlies appear to have some decent reinforcements such as netminder Jussi Rynnas, defenceman Jake Gardiner and forwards Joe Colborne and Tim Connolly (yes, that’s the former longtime NHLer and onetime Leafs captain).

The old cliche says “time will tell” if the Leafs can maintain the momentum they’ve built: they did so last season, but then faded and finished just out of the playoffs. This time, though, they’ve embraced change and made good use of their resources, so the situation is already different — and for the better.