Maple Leafs Mailbag

Making The Playoffs, Marlies, Music And More

By Hieronymous MacMillan

It's been an exciting past couple of months. A Stanley Cup champion was crowned, a new team was added to the league, a new batch of prospects arrived via the entry draft and finally, free agency frenzy fell upon us. 
Fortunately, while the league was a whirlwind of activity, I was able to take a couple of months vacation from writing. But as free agency has unofficially "closed" and we find ourselves in the doldrums of the hockey season, I thought now would be a great time to dip into an overflowing mailbag and answer some of the reader's questions. 

So without further ado, I give you the first ever Toronto Maple Leafs mailbag. 

Give us your odds on Toronto making the playoffs this year.  --- Darby K.
With all of the moves that Led Tasso has made (or not made) since the playoffs ended, are we better or worse than we were last year? --- Olivia J.

I'll be going a little deeper into the offseason additons and subtractions and what the roster/lines will look like in an upcoming article. But for now I can tell you that I think we are deeper than we were last season. 
Remember that Tasso completely blew up the roster last year and everyone was playing together for the first time. There was no line chemistry so a lot of the year was an experiment for head coach John MacLean to see what worked. And while the early results looked good, as we all know the Leafs faltered after the trade deadline and missed out on a playoff berth. 
With a season under their belts of playing with one another and learning each other tendencies, that should be worth a couple of extra wins in itself. The top 6 looks solid, the new look fourth line should be more dependable as will the new third pairing on defense.
The real question mark will be in goal. While Mackenzie Blackwood was arguably the teams MVP last year, reinforcements were brought in it looks like we'll see Blackwood start the year as a backup. If Nedeljkovic or Kahkonen can provide above average goaltending, then I'd bet on Toronto making the playoffs in Year 2 of Tasso's tenure as GM. 

What goes into GMLT's planning for the entry draft? Are we close to seeing any of his picks turning pro? --- Louise B.
Which prospect(s) are you most hyped about/will we see on the main roster first? --- Nathan M.

Led Tasso has made a staggering 26 choices over his first two drafts with the Leafs. It's still very early days so we've yet to see if any his picks turn out to be RHL calibre players or busts. Even if we're being conservative and say he hits at a 25% rate, that means that around 8 guys should make it. FIngers crossed. 
Here's what we can glean from those two drafts: Tasso likes to draft from the WHL and he seems to have a tendency for undersized, skilled forwards. Look no further than when he moved into the first round of last year's draft to reach for Logan Stankoven (5'8", 170lbs) of the Kamloops Blazers. You might have got deja vu when he did nearly the exact same thing and plucked Jagger Firkus (5'10", 154lbs) from the Moose Jaw Warriors. 

By the numbers, of the 26 draft picks 10 have been used on players from "the Dub" with the OHL coming in at a close second with 6. The other 10 are a mixed bag with only 4 being used on European players. 
I don't think they limit to themselves to just trying to finding players out west or from the CHL but that it's just more a matter of who the team liked and who was available in those spots. We'll need a larger sample size to get a better read on his drafting tendencies and while it's still a year away it will be interesting to see if he goes heavy on WHL guys yet again
As for prospect hype, it comes via a Tasso trade and not one of his own picks. Kirill Marchenko (acquired in the Stamkos trade with Boston) looks to be the best bet on who will skate with the big club first. Ryder Korczak, Rory Kerins, and Brandt Clarke (all acquired through trades) along with newly signed Bobby Trivigno are all worth keeping an eye on this season as well. Clarke might have the highest upside of the four but might take longer to turn pro than the others. 

What the hell is Led Tasso doing? Does he have a blueprint for this team or is he just making it up as he goes? ---- Ellen R.

Rebuild and Toronto go together about as well as oil and water. But as you may recall when the new general manager took over he did mention something to the effect of "tearing down" the roster. 
And he did. But quickly reassembled it. From the time he took over, Mackenzie Blackwood is the only player left from the roster he had (along with Cole Koepke and AJ Greer in the minors). Whether this was a mandate from ownership or not, it didn't seem like Toronto was intent on "tanking". Which probably makes some sense that they didn't own their first round pick anymore. 
However, in doing so, he hasn't seemed to take his eye off of the future. The pool of prospects Toronto had before was somewhat abysmal but he's done a decent job of building that back up along with some nice depth in the minors. Both Stamkos and Doughty are on the wrong side of 30 but should have a few more good years in them but with Josh Norris (23) brought in over the offseason and Clarke (19) soon to be in the mix, not to mention players like Noah Gregor (24) and Dillon Dube (24), the Leafs seem to be making a point of integrating youth into the roster. 
Is this "rebuild on the fly" a recipe for success? Time will tell. So whether or not it's Tasso's blueprint, you can undoubtedly say that his fingerprints are all over this roster. 

What can you tell us about the state of the Marlies? Who is next man up in the inevitable event of injuries? --- Jimmy R.

A lot has been written about what Led Tasso has done to the Maple Leafs roster. And of course we all know they missed the playoffs. 
The Marlies, who always play second fiddle in the city to their parent club, quietly went about business and won their division and finished fourth in the league in total points. They'd loste in the second round to eventual champions Charlotte.
Most of that roster returns, with a few exceptions. Filip Gustavsson, who had a great season and was largely responsible for the Marlies making the playoffs, was traded to the Flames for highly touted prospect Ryder Korczak (who's is still at least a year away before we see him in blue and white) and Artemi Kniazev who will likely start the year on the Marlies bottom pairing. 
Also gone are Matiss Kivlienieks [G], regular season leading scorer Pavel Gogolev [F], Michael Raffl [F], Mackenzie MacEachern [F], and Markus Phillips [D].
Ben McCartney [F] and Cole Fonstad [F] have both graduated to the pro ranks, Seth Griffith [F], Gabriel Dumont [F] and Troy Grosenick signed on while Brendan Perlini [F], Dean Kukan [D], Nick Perbix [D]  and Kniazev [D] were brought in via trade. 
At this point, it looks as though Kaapo Kahkonen will be the number one netminder to start the year so it seems a safe bet that the Marlies should be back in the playoffs again. 
Last year the Maple Leafs kept two healthy scratches on the main roster all year long but from what I've heard that won't be the case this year. Griffith and Michael Sgarbossa look to have the upperhand on getting called up while Kukan will move up on defense. 
None of this is to mention the Newfoundland Growlers. Bobby McMann [F] and Bobby Trivigno [F], both of whom the Leafs are bullish about, along with Eduards Tralmaks [F], Ben Tardif [F], Fedor Gordeev [D], Yan Kuznetsov [D], Fedor Gordeev [D], Keith Petruzzelli [G] and Tommy Nappier [G] will all start the year in the ECHL.

What it's in your Spotify playlist these days? --- Ray L.

We'll end the mailbag with a fun one. 
For those who don't know me, I'm an avid music listener. I'm always trying to find my new favourite artist and so I try to consume as much new music possible, whether that means someone I've never heard of from years ago or an album that just came out last week (not to mention that I've become a podcast addict over the past several years).
I listen to just about
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the new album that one of my all-time favourite bands, Coheed and Cambria. I've had "Vaxis – Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind" on repeat for the past several weeks. 
Otherwise, I've been working on a playlist/article that I'll be dropping soon so I'll give you a sneak peek of that with a track from San Diego, CA pop-punk band The Inflorescence.