The Maple Leafs Are Still Figuring Out What This New Team Is

Something felt a little strange about the Toronto Maple Leafs opening two games of the season. They looked like a team still trying to figure out what kind of a team it was.

That isn’t necessarily bad or surprising. This is, after all, a very different Maple Leafs team. There is a new general manager in John Chayka, a new head coach in Jim Hiller, a new goaltending plan, a new No. 1 draft pick in Gavin McKenna and a whole bunch of new pieces. Then, just before the season started, Chayka pulled off another major move, essentially sending Matthew Knies to Columbus for Kirill Marchenko.

And Toronto didn’t have much preseason time to sort everything out. The team played only four exhibition games, compressed into two split-squad dates. That’s not much time for a new coaching staff to establish systems, new players to learn one another, and the organization to figure out which pieces fit where.

So maybe the first two games shouldn’t be viewed as a finished product. Maybe they’re the beginning of the experiment.

Marchenko Changes the Conversation

The Marchenko trade is particularly interesting because it changed the shape of the forward group almost immediately. Knies was a player many people liked, and for good reason. He’s young, inexpensive and still has plenty of room to grow. But Marchenko brings something different.

He is 26, has already scored 102 goals and 208 points in 292 NHL games, and is coming off a 27-goal, 67-point season in Columbus. Toronto also immediately committed to him with a six-year, $75 million extension. That’s a pretty strong indication of what Chayka thinks he is getting.

The intriguing part is where Marchenko eventually fits. One possible top six has Auston Matthews and John Tavares down the middle, William Nylander and Marchenko on the right side, and McKenna and Easton Cowan on the left. That isn’t necessarily the lineup Hiller will use. But it raises an interesting question.

What to Do With Cowan and McKenna?

Could Cowan and McKenna actually make each other better? McKenna arrived in Toronto with enormous expectations. Cowan arrived a couple of years earlier as another highly regarded young player trying to establish himself. Through the first two games, Cowan has looked more comfortable.

Maybe that’s just coincidence. Maybe it’s the 68 games of NHL experience Cowan has put in. Or maybe having another young player beside him has given Cowan something to push against. Competition isn’t always a bad thing.

Two Other Maple Leafs Question Marks

The same uncertainty exists on defence. Darren Raddysh arrived in Toronto with a huge contract and huge expectations after putting up 70 points in Tampa Bay last season. He has never had to deal with the kind of spotlight that comes with being a highly paid Maple Leafs defenceman.

So far, Morgan Rielly has looked more comfortable defensively than Raddysh. In fact, Raddysh has looked a bit nervous with the puck. That could be temporary. Rielly also started last season well before things became much more complicated.

But an interesting possibility exists. Maybe Rielly’s defensive responsibility can let Raddysh focus on what he does best: moving the puck and creating offence. Who would’ve thought Rielly might be the defensive blueliner in any pairing?

That pairing may not be settled yet. Neither is the bottom of the defence corps. And it wouldn’t be surprising if Chayka eventually looks for another right-shot defenceman to strengthen it.

Then there’s the goaltending. Sergei Bobrovsky was brought in as the No. 1 goalie, but Toronto has no reason to treat that as rigid. With Anthony Stolarz looking sharp in Wednesday’s win, a fairly even workload could make sense if both goalies are playing well. The task might be less about choosing one goalie over the other and more about keeping both fresh.

The Story of These First Two Maple Leafs Games

The Maple Leafs aren’t finished. They aren’t even completely defined yet. Chayka made a lot of changes, and then made another enormous one just before the season began. Now Hiller has to figure out how all those pieces fit together.

The encouraging part is that the biggest problem through two games has been creating offence. That might sound strange for a team with Matthews, Nylander, Tavares, Marchenko and McKenna. But if the structure is already beginning to take hold defensively, there is reason to believe the offence will come as these players get more comfortable with one another.

That’s the fascinating part of this new Maple Leafs team. We’re not really seeing the finished product yet. We’re watching Chayka and Hiller figure out what they have.

[Note: I want to thank long-time Maple Leafs fan Stan Smith for collaborating with me on this post. Stan’s Facebook profile can be found here.]