The Toronto Maple Leafs scored maybe their most impressive win all season on Wednesday night, shutting out the Stanley Cup contender Vegas Golden Knights without their best player (Auston Matthews), two other centres (Max Domi and David Kämpf) and two top-nine wingers (Calle Järnkrok and Max Pacioretty). They also lost Matthew Knies to a possible concussion halfway through.
The victory improved the Leafs’ record to 12-6-2 after 20 games, slightly besting their pace from last season (11-6-3).
How’s everyone doing? Twenty games feels like the right time to take a step back and evaluate the roster from top to bottom (in no particular order).
Rocking it
Anthony Stolarz: The Leafs are among the league’s best in goals allowed at five-on-five and it’s thanks, in part, to Stolarz. He’s surrendered 12 goals total at five-on-five in his 12 starts, posting a toasty .955 save percentage. Overall, Stolarz has stopped 10 goals more than expected.
Matthew Knies: The sophomore leap is happening. Knies is on pace for over 30 goals. He’s been chowing down on shots around the opposition net. He was averaging around 18.5 minutes per game before his injury against the Golden Knights, playing roles on both special team units, including an unexpected gig on PP1. Knies has also drawn a team-leading eight penalties. The Leafs have to hope he isn’t gone long.
Chris Tanev: I think there’s a case to be made that he’s been the Leafs’ MVP to this point — or right there with Stolarz and maybe William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Tanev is arguably the biggest driver of the Leafs’ tidier defensive performance this season. Though he plays the hardest minutes on the team, the Leafs are giving up a mere 1.8 expected goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five with Tanev on the ice. That’s one of the top marks for any NHL defender this season. The penalty kill has also leapt from bad last season to the top 10 thanks largely to Tanev. He’s on pace to block almost 300 shots this season.
Jake McCabe: Nobody plays more these days for the Leafs than McCabe. He’s averaging a team-best (and career high) of nearly 22 minutes per game. McCabe has teamed up with Tanev on what’s quickly become a dominant defensive pair. He may be playing the best hockey of his career at age 31.
Conor Timmins: Timmins’ strong first impression on Craig Berube led, at least in part, to Timothy Liljegren’s exit from the Leafs. How good has he actually been? Has he been better than last season even? I’m not so sure (his PDO of 105.7 trails only John Tavares among Leafs). But the fact he’s playing every night — minus just two games as a scratch — exceeds expectations.
Steven Lorentz: The most reliable (maybe the only reliable) bottom-six forward all season. Lorentz has chipped in a bit offensively (three goals), played physically, blocked shots and killed penalties. He doesn’t play a lot, just under 11 minutes per game, but he has the trust of his coach. He’s already played all three forward positions this season.
Just right
William Nylander: He’s been the most reliable goal-scoring threat for a team that’s struggled to score at times this season, leading the team with 13 goals and helping to fill a (massive) void on that front left by the injured Matthews.
Morgan Rielly: Yet again, the ‘who plays with Rielly?’ question has become a thing. Twenty games into the season, Rielly has already had three different partners — Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jani Hakanpää. It’s been a little messy at times defensively and Rielly’s minutes have been scaled back quite a bit to right around 21 minutes a night. Yet, Rielly has been the most (only?) consistent source of offence from the Leaf defence, leading the group with four goals and 13 points.
John Tavares: Marner has gotten most of the credit for stepping up in Matthews’ absence. Tavares is probably due some credit himself. He’s taken over the No. 1 centre duties in recent weeks, which has meant playing increasingly big and difficult minutes. He spent most of Game No. 20 matched up against Jack Eichel. He’s on pace for almost 40 goals, punching in some big ones so far with three game winners already, including the overtime goal in Washington last week. Following a 65-point season last year, Tavares is, so far, putting up a point per game in his age-34 season.
Mitch Marner: He’s on pace for his first 100-point season — and hasn’t even gotten going yet at five-on-five. Marner has multi-point outings in all six of the Leafs’ wins (in seven games) without Matthews. He’s been increasingly excellent on the defensive side.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson: Steady is maybe the best way to describe his season so far. The most surprising part may be the physicality: Ekman-Larsson has thrown 31 hits, third among Leaf defenders so far. His general calmness and confidence moving the puck have helped the Leafs, and he’s added the odd bit of offence beyond Rielly back there, chipping in with one goal and eight points. He has taken a team-high 10 penalties.
Trending up
Bobby McMann: He’s scored, skated hard, played physically and looked the part of an NHL power forward. But it’s come in waves; a lot at once and then not very much at all. McMann needs more consistency.
Joseph Woll: After his first shutout of the year on Wednesday, Woll is suddenly up to a .922 save percentage in six starts this season. A late start because of injury, coupled with Stolarz’s stellar play, has him in the No. 2 chair right now. That can change if Woll can start stringing some quality starts together. He’s won his last three outings.
Struggling to make an impact
Max Domi: The first season of Domi’s four-year contract with the Leafs wasn’t going well before an injury knocked him out of the lineup entirely. Domi didn’t score in his first 19 games and had gone the last 13 games without a point. He’s been hurt as much as anyone by the non-existence of a rush attack under Berube. His nine minor penalties are second-most among Leafs.
David Kämpf: He was beginning to worm his way into Berube’s Circle of Trust before he became too felled by injury. His penalty-kill duties had increased and Berube was beginning to turn his way for more defensive zone draws. The offence, which was limited to begin with, has completely disappeared, though. Kämpf, who had only one goal less than Domi last year (eight), hasn’t scored this season and has mustered only three assists.
Pontus Holmberg: Berube continues to be a believer, even as Holmberg struggles to make an impact. There was hope he could do Kämpf-like things, with more offence, but that hasn’t materialized. Holmberg is averaging less than a shot per game and scored for the first time all season into an empty net on Wednesday night.
Ryan Reaves: It hasn’t gone anywhere near as poorly as last fall when the puck kept entering the Leafs net any time he was on the ice, but Reaves’ minutes still weren’t amounting to much before he got suspended for his hit on Darnell Nurse. He had no goals, one assist and only seven shots in 16 games. The puck hasn’t gone in much either way when he’s been out there: two goals for the Leafs, three for the opposition.
Nick Robertson: The opportunity has been there for him to carve out a more substantial role, and the Leafs have been desperate for middle-six offence. It just hasn’t happened. Robertson’s lone goal (and point) this season came in the third period of a blowout loss in Columbus.
Simon Benoit: Not having McCabe by his side sure seems to have hurt Benoit this season, the first of a three-year contract ($1.35 million cap hit). A seat in the press box seemed to spark something in the 26-year-old: He registered a season-high eight hits in his return to the lineup against Vegas.
Limited by injury
Auston Matthews: Though he wasn’t scoring or defending like usual, it speaks to Matthews’ greatness that the Leafs were still winning his minutes handily at five-on-five. He was also faring well in a major role on the penalty kill.
Max Pacioretty: Things were trending up for Pacioretty before he suffered an apparent hamstring injury. He had found a comfy fit next to Nylander and Tavares and was giving the Leafs a much-needed combination of wily offence and physicality. The Leafs need that back whenever he returns.
We haven’t seen enough yet
Fraser Minten: He scored his first NHL goal in his season debut on Wednesday. Berube also had him chipping in a little on the penalty kill and gave him a spot on PP1 after Knies was injured. He played almost 16 minutes and won four of his seven draws. With all the injuries at centre, the 20-year-old will get a decent look here in the next week or so to demonstrate whether he’s ready to stick.
Connor Dewar: Wednesday was only his fourth game back from offseason shoulder surgery, and first at centre.
Jani Hakanpää: It remains to be seen if he can move around well enough after the injuries to play a role for the Leafs. He was a first-time healthy scratch on Wednesday night.
Calle Järnkrok: A sneaky-important loss, it remains to be seen when, or if, he’ll play this season after groin and sports hernia surgery.
Alex Steeves: There’s opportunity there for him to prove he’s an NHL player.
Nikita Grebenkin: He was rambunctious in his NHL debut against Vegas. The fearlessness and physicality, in particular, popped.
Dennis Hildeby: His first two NHL starts were a mixed bag — one good (a 23-save win in New Jersey), one not so good (six goals against in a loss to Columbus).
Philippe Myers: A depth signing, Myers has played only one game all season.
— Stats and research courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, Hockey Reference and Evolving Hockey
(Top photo of William Nylander: John E. Sokolowski / Imagn Images)
