Post-Mortem: Toronto Maple Leafs

Via: citynews.com

It's amazing how a hockey team can be so full of life one moment, then dead and gone the next. Such is the case for the 2013 edition of the Toronto Maple Leafs, as we once again examine the body to try to find out what went wrong.

It was a season of change for the Leafs before the puck even dropped back in January. Long time general manager and team president Brian Burke was fired and replaced by his running mate Dave Nonis.
It came as a shock to many in the hockey world, though it probably shouldn't have. Burke was known for making controversial decisions, such as firing coach Ron Wilson just three months after extending his contract, and the owners of the Leafs had grown tired of his five years rebuilding the club with no results to show for it. Nonis taking over wasn't considered a culture shift, and the moved turned out to be lateral at best. Nonis made few changes to the Leafs, and the team that ultimately made the playoffs this season, after missing the previous nine years, was essentially the same team that Burke had built.

The strength of the team this season was undoubtedly on offense, as they finished 6th overall in goals per game. They were led by Phil Kessel, who has grown into one of the most dynamic offensive threats in the league and finished 8th in NHL scoring with 20 goals and 52 points. Added to that was the emergence of two young players, Nazem Kadri and James van Riemsdyk. Kadri had his best season as a professional, netting 18 goals and 44 points in 48 games (even better than his last AHL season), while van Riemsdyk had a strong season with 32 points to finish 3rd in team scoring. Captian Dion Phaneuf and Cody Franson also had good seasons from the blueline, finishing with 28 and 29 points respectively.

I would be remiss, however, if I didn't discuss the goaltending, after all, it was the most dominant story in Toronto this year. Through all the rumours and speculation about Roberto Luongo or Mikka Kiprusoff, the Leafs stuck with their goalies through the trade deadline. James Reimer seems to be emerging as a solid NHL starting goalie, though he still has his flaws. He finished the year with an excellent .924 save percentage and 4 shutouts, though he was prone to let in a few softies just as often as he was to making the big save.

Yet despite all the improvement among the young players in all positions, the Leafs knew they were going to be in tough against the arch-rival Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs. With a 4-1 lead and ten minutes to go in game seven it looked as though the Leafs would be up to the task, but then began an epic collapse that left many people in Toronto stunned. The defense couldn't clog up the blueline, Reimer couldn't clear his rebounds and next thing you know the Leafs were going home. So what happened?

I think more than anything you can chalk it up as a valuable learning experience for a young team making it's first post-season appearance in nearly a decade. The Bruins, as we all know, are a deep and veteran team and they showed it last night in eliminating the Leafs. All young teams need to suffer through painful experiences like this before they learn how to win, and the Leafs are no exception. Toronto is actually very well positioned for the future, with many young players that will be entering their prime in the next few seasons, lots of cap space available to them for signing their RFAs, and a manager who seems to be more willing to bend than his predecessor. In my opinion they'll need to add some veteran presence on the blueline and re-evaluate their goaltending moving forward, but with Kessel, Kadri and Phaneuf leading the team for the foreseeable future, fans in Toronto should have more optimism now than they've had in many years.