The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to get back on the winning track against the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday after a pair of home losses to the NY Islanders and Minnesota Wild. Toronto had been extremely successful (winners of nine of their last 10 games) on home ice, but in both home losses the opposition was successful in preventing the club from breaking out of their own end by using the stretch pass and forced the Leafs defense to turn over the puck.
Head coach Mike Babcock will go back to goalie Michael Hutchinson between the pipes with Frederik Andersen and Garret Sparks unavailable. Hutchinson played well on Thursday after getting a start in the AHL earlier in the week, but will need his teammates to play better in front of him after they allowed 30 Minnesota shots in the first two periods.
“The more you play, the easier the game comes to you and the more comfortable you feel.” Hutchinson said. “Being with a new team and a new situation, the more you can play off the bat, the more comfortable you feel with everything.”
Andersen remains on injured reserve with a groin injury, but took to the ice for the Leafs optional skate on Saturday morning, while Sparks (diagnosed with a concussion on Friday) skated for the first time since taking a William Nylander shot off the mask on Wednesday.
Kasimir Kaskisuo has been recalled on an emergency basis to backup Hutchinson against Vancouver, after being sent down and making 19 saves in a 5-1 Toronto Marlies win in Binghamton on Friday.
Vancouver is 3-2 on their six-game road swing through mostly Western and Eastern Canada (which coincides with their home building being used for the 2019 IIHF World Junior) and are in the race for a Western Conference wild card spot, but those aspirations took a hit with the loss of star rookie Elias Pettersson in Montreal on Thursday.
The 20-year-old center got twisted up with Habs rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi in a 2-0 loss at the Bell Centre and suffered a knee injury, but appears to have avoided serious injury.
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The Maple Leafs have to consider the first half of the season as successful, with the league’s second-best record (26-12-2) and stars Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly having career years, but after weathering the absence of William Nylander and the loss of Matthews to a shoulder injury, the goaltending depth and the health of starter Frederik Andersen have to be a concern as the club enters the second half.
Here is a report card on the progress of the Leafs after the first half of the season:
Overall Team Grade: A-
Toronto is 12 points in back of Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division, and tied with Vegas and Calgary with 54 points. They are in the top-five in goals scored with 147, second in the NHL in goal differential (+34) and sixth in goals allowed with 113, due mostly to a great first half by Andersen, who is second in the league with 20 wins.
Coach Grade: B+
Mike Babcock demands his teams play with structure, energy and effort and the Leafs at times struggle with all three, but their head coach is successful most of the time in coaxing a winning effort out of them. Babcock has been forced to shake up his line combinations with the injuries to Matthews, Zach Hyman, Tyler Ennis and the return of Nylander in early December.
Whether it was an organizational or coaching decision, the insertion of a rusty Nylander less than a week after signing was ill-advised and the Leafs are fortunate that it did not cost them games.
Babcock was evasive at training camp whether he would pull back on Andersen’s usage from 66 games in his first two seasons with the Leafs, and his failure to do so has come back to bite Toronto.
GM Grade: B+
Kyle Dubas in the end will be graded on the moves he makes before the February 25th trade deadline, but currently the only misstep he has made is the loss of veteran backups Calvin Pickard and Curtis McElhinney on waivers.
Rookie Garret Sparks continues to be inconsistent as a backup and that may have contributed to Babcock relying more on Andersen and playing Sparks only nine times in the first half.
Dubas was proactive in dealing for goalie Michael Hutchinson before Andersen’s groin injury was fully revealed and used the large amount of cap space available this season to facilitate a favorable contract structure with Nylander, while still maintaining a healthy amount of cap room to make additions for a potential Stanley Cup run.
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