Hockey fans everywhere were buzzing on Monday as the Toronto Maple Leafs called-up several of their future key core pieces, such as forwards William Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen, Zach Hyman, Nikita Soshnikov and newly-acquired defenseman Connor Carrick. To create roster space for them to play, they sent down stud prospect Brendan Leipsic and depth prospect Josh Leivo, among others, but one can assume that just about all of these names mentioned will reunite again at some point this season in the AHL.
Nylander, Kapanen and Hyman formed the top line for the Marlies, Toronto’s AHL affiliate, for quite a while this season. Nylander led the league in scoring for about half the season until he left the Marlies for the 2016 World Junior Championship, where he suffered an injury that kept him out for an even longer amount of time. The forward has been unreal this season, though, with 45 points (18G, 27A) in 37 games.
Though Nylander led all Toronto forwards in ice-time, Kapanen had arguably the best performance of all the rookies, especially considering all the flashy moves and the prime third period power play scoring chance he had in his first game.
“I thought they made plays and played fast so I was impressed with them,” head coach Mike Babcock told Yahoo! Sports Canada after the game. “Kapanen obviously has breakaway speed, (Nylander) has skill, Hyman, a relentless worker who can still make plays, and (Soshnikov) I thought was good both ways.”
Despite the fact that the team didn’t emerge victorious against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night, it was hardly considered a loss; now in free-fall mode, it’s not like the last-place Maple Leafs are vying for playoff position, so giving their rookies some NHL exposure is the right way to go with just about a month-and-a-half left in the regular-season.
“They need that type of experience,” Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello said. “They need to get their feet wet. They need to feel comfortable and when they come to training camp next year they’ll know what’s in front of them, how they prepare this summer — they’ll know what they have to do. It’s the right thing.”
Tonight's Leafs starters:
Grabner – Nylander – Hyman
Marincin – CarrickSparks#TMLtalk
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) March 1, 2016
Earlier this season, many had speculated that young studs like Nylander and Kapanen would make their NHL debuts toward the end of the regular-season, and they were clearly not wrong. However, the one misconception that people have had is that they believed the youngsters would stay with the club for the entirety of the regular-season after the trade deadline, when spots are wide open for the taking.
Barring some change of heart, this doesn’t seem to be the goal of Toronto’s management team.
The current situation in the Maple Leafs organization was preceded by the perfect storm of events: James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Joffrey Lupul, and Milan Michalek — among others — all went down with injury, so several roster spots opened up; the trade deadline made this season’s roster final, following months of speculation surrounding the status of just about every regular roster player not named Morgan Rielly; and the Toronto Marlies currently lead the rest of the AHL by an overwhelming 16 points, so plucking the team’s top players from them for a while can do virtually no harm to their standings entering the playoffs.
What most people fail to recognize is the fact that these rookies are all on their entry-level contracts. If one of them appears in 10 or more NHL games this season, the first year of his ELC will be burned; however, if he appears in nine or fewer and is then sent back down to the Marlies, this season will not count against his ELC.
For example, if Nylander stays, he becomes a restricted free agent in the summer of 2018, but if he is sent down before the 10th game, he becomes an RFA in the summer of 2019, the latter of which is more advantageous for the Maple Leafs’ salary cap situation.
Looking for today's new sweater numbers? Well…
Laich – #23
Smith – #26
Hyman – #11
Kapanen – #37
Nylander – #39
Soshnikov – #41#TMLtalk— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 29, 2016
The best course of action from here on out is to let the kids play a few more games until some of the veterans return in the coming weeks, such as Michalek and P.A. Parenteau, but to make sure that they do not play more than nine games total. Once guys like Nylander, Kapanen, Hyman and the others return to the Marlies, they will be in the final stretch of the regular-season leading up to the Calder Cup Playoffs, where they will likely enter as the number-one seed and become the top contenders for the league’s championship.
Some free advice for Lamoriello and the rest of Toronto’s management staff: let the kids become minor-league champions with the Marlies this year, so they can be crucial figures in the Maple Leafs becoming NHL champions someday.
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