The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have a disastrous start like the Vancouver Canucks or the Minnesota Wild. But Monday’s defeat at the hands of the Arizona Coyotes, coupled with that against the Canadian in the opening game, caused a stir.
Posted at 12:14 p.m.
Toronto beat Washington and Ottawa by an identical score of 3-2, but the two defeats against clubs in reconstruction are rather embarrassing for a supposedly powerful club.
The pressure is already palpable under head coach Sheldon Keefe. As proof, he overused his stars against the Coyotes. Mitch Marner played 26:10, Auston Matthews 24:43. Usually only elite defenders can play that much, and they’re counted on the fingers of two hands.
Keefe released another cartridge a little early, that of public criticism of its stars. “Our elite players didn’t play like elite players, that’s what happens when those guys don’t make the difference like they could,” coach said after handball loss from Arizona.
This is a double-edged sword, depending on the nature of the relationship between the coach and his stars. We’ll find out soon enough, since the Leafs will face the Dallas Stars, undefeated in three games, Thursday at home.
Auston Matthews, it should be noted, is not having a typical start to the season. He has only two points, a goal and an assist, in four games. Defenseman Morgan Rielly was on the ice for seven of the opposition’s five-on-five goals. No one has done worse in the NHL.
But enough about the coach and the players. People management in Toronto continues to be talked about. A neophyte could have predicted a return to the infirmary of goalkeeper Matt Murray.
He has played 38, 27 and 20 games over the past three seasons. GM Kyle Dubas, however, freed the Senators from his $6.2 million annual salary for this year and next with modest third- and seventh-round picks.
PHOTO PETER MCCABE, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Goalkeeper Matt Murray
In recent years, they haven’t deigned to retain Frederik Andersen, paid an average of 4.5 million in Carolina, and brilliant last season with a 35-14-3 record, a 2.17 GAA and a save percentage. saves of .922, then Jack Campbell, this summer, a new Oilers with 5 million per season for the next five years (but whose new adventure began in a catastrophic way).
Toronto could get away with it if 25-year-old Ilya Samsonov gets the job done. Samsonov, once a rising star with the Capitals after being drafted in the first round in 2015, was forced out of Washington after a tough year. He agreed to a modest one-year contract for 1.8 million with the Maple Leafs.
Dubas, and chairman Brendan Shanahan, are so poorly managing the salary cap that it took Murray’s injury, and his migration to the long-term injured list, to finally recall their best forward prospect Nick Robertson, who was fired. in the American League after a brilliant training camp for salary reasons.
Time is running out in Toronto. Not only have they lost in the first round (or preliminary round in 2020) the past six seasons, but big hitters Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Jake Muzzin and TJ Brodie will be given full free agency at the conclusion of the 2023-2024 season.
If the management of the salary cap is complex at the moment, imagine in two years (even if it is likely to increase by a few million), with these contract renewals, and very few young players to replace them, if necessary . Toronto, we recall, has been drafted only once in the first round in the last four vintages, and already lost its second-round pick in 2023 for Mark Giordano.
A tile in Chicago
The Chicago Blackhawks took a bit of a risk this summer though, trading rising 21-year-old Kirby Dach, a third overall pick just three years ago, for the 13e overall pick in 2022 and a third-round pick. But new CEO Kyle Davidson wanted to not only demolish the house, but also its foundations to build a new one.
With this first-round pick obtained from the Canadiens, previously acquired from the New York Islanders for Alexander Romanov, the Blackhawks drafted forward Frank Nazar, a 5-foot-9, 174-pound right-hander center, 70 points in 56 games at the within the US development agenda.
However, in the days when Dach scored the winning goal in overtime for the Canadian, the Blackhawks learned very bad news: even before his first game with the Wolverines of the University of Michigan, in the NCAA, Nazar will have to submit to a surgery to treat a lower body injury. He will miss several months, maybe even the entire season. It is obviously never ideal in the development of an 18-year-old prospect.