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With two weeks to go before the NHL trade deadline, the Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves in the unenviable position of needing to upgrade more than a few areas, but without many viable options to address them. The Leafs were able to get back on track offensively after a weak effort against Buffalo last Wednesday, scoring four times on Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko, but were once again undone by defensive miscues and the inconsistent goaltending of Jack Campbell in a 6-4 loss to the Canucks on Saturday.
Toronto rebounded from an early 3-1 deficit with Nick Robertson’s first NHL goal and two from Auston Matthews, but could not slam the door on Vancouver, who scored three goals on six shots in the third period.
The Leafs most recent downturn has been as a result of the double whammy of soft defensive play and the inability of their goaltending to pick up the slack. In the last 12 games, Toronto has surrendered 48 goals (4 goals per game) and is 5-6-1. The injury to Jake Muzzin has forced head coach Sheldon Keefe to split the top pairing of Morgan Rielly and TJ Brodie, leaving the Leafs even more vulnerable in the top-four than it was prior to the veteran blueliner going down.
Over that span, Campbell and Petr Mrazek have a save percentage of .873, but GM Kyle Dubas does not really have an avenue of improving between the pipes before March 21 with the Leafs unlikely not being in on Marc-Andre Fleury and other rental options like Braden Holtby and Jaroslav Halak not providing a significant upgrade.
“We have two guys that have been good goaltenders. Jack played at an All-Star level this year. Petr Mrazek has played 300 games — or nearing that — and has been a good goaltender in his career.” Dubas said on Friday. “We tend to get a little bit game-to-game in this marketplace. I am not concerned about either one of them. They have both shown themselves to be good goalies, and they will be.”
Based on his comments, Dubas appears to be focusing on upgrading the blueline and hopes that a deadline addition along with the return of Muzzin will shore up the Leafs defensive deficiencies, but the question is whether expending assets to add a rental like Rasmus Ristolainen or Josh Manson will make a difference if the goaltending continues to be average.
With Muzzin’s return in question, the option of keeping the blueliner on LTIR the rest of the regular season is there and might allow the Leafs to also deal for a forward to play alongside John Tavares and William Nylander, but it first appears they will give Robertson a look over the next two weeks to see if he is ready to handle a more prominent role.
Mrazek will make his 13th start of the season, as the Leafs hope to snap their two-game losing skid in the first of back-to-back games against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Monday.
Ondrej Kase(upper body) and Rasmus Sandin (illness) did not make the trip and it is expected that Toronto will suit up the same 18 skaters that played against the Canucks.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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