The Toronto Maple Leafs were among the highest scoring teams in the NHL at the time Randy Carlyle was fired in early January, but the ability to put in the net evaporated in the second half of the season and that led to the club’s second half collapse and 27th overall finish last season.
The Leafs had 130 goals(2nd in the NHL behind the Tampa Bay Lightning) at the time of the change from Carlyle to interim coach Peter Horachek and in the remaining 42 games, Toronto managed just 81 and finished 24th in the league with 211 goals. With the trade of Phil Kessel and his consistent 30-goal production, head coach Mike Babcock sees the biggest challenge for the club is making up that offense in the sniper’s absence.
“Anytime you move a guy like Phil who is a high-end scorer, you’re going to suffer to replace his goals, that’s just the reality of the situation.” Babcock said on
TSN Radio Tuesday morning. “We (did) an exercise each year in Detroit, Ken Holland and myself, we’d add up the goals we were going to score. We’d know before the year, what we thought we were going to score. When I added up the goals the other day, they didn’t add up right, so I tried to do it again and again and I didn’t like the outcome. The reality is we are going to have to find some people to score more goals than I put down on the sheet initially.”
The group that will need to step up not only needs to make up for Kessel’s absence, but also needs to score 20-30 goals more than last season to get Toronto’s output from near the bottom of the league into the middle of the pack. Where Babcock may be hoping for more production is from James van Riemsdyk, Joffrey Lupul, Nazem Kadri and free agent additions PA Parenteau and Shawn Matthias.
Van Riemsdyk scored 30 goals for the first time in 2014 and led the club with 27 last season, but it will be a challenge for the big winger to maintain those levels without Kessel on the other wing. Lupul scored a career-low 10 goals and missed 1/3rd of the season due to a pair of injuries and has to play over 70 games to reach the 20-goal plateau. Kadri took a step back from his first 20-goal season two years ago and had off-the-ice issues that stunted his growth as a player.
Parenteau had four straight seasons of double figure totals in goals, but scored only eight in 56 games with Montreal and was bought out by the Habs last June. The 32-year-old will get plenty of ice time as a top six right-winger and the Leafs will be looking for Parenteau to tally 15 or more, as they will with Matthias, who scored a career-high 18 goals for the Canucks after being traded from Florida as part of the Roberto Luongo deal.
Babcock is making it clear that top prospects William Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen, Connor Brown or Mitch Marner will have to go a long way to beat out experienced players signed during the summer for a spot on the roster, since the youngsters making the club would start their entry-level deals after playing 10 NHL games.
“Tie go to the veteran, kids got to earn their way and no jobs are given here for free. The other thing is ‘can you help us’....not ‘can you get in the lineup’…..can you help us." Babcock said on Sportsnet FAN 590. “The way the CBA works today is you have to pay these guys. If you play a kid when he isn’t ready to help the team, that’s one year off his contract.”
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Listen to myself and CTV London’s Norman James discussing the upcoming Rookie Tournament:
See Previous Columns
Leafs Starting From Scratch Under Babcock
Breakout Players For 2015-16 – Metropolitan Division
Breakout Players For 2015-16 – Central Division
Breakout Players For 2015-16 – Pacific Division
Breakout Players For 2015-16 – Atlantic Division
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