Who remembers report card time as a kid?
It was always a stressful time —at least for me.
Well, with the month of August just around the corner, I thought it was the perfect time to assess a letter grade for Toronto’s offseason thus far.
Firstly, before disclosing my declaration, it’s important to preface two things: No. 1) I’m a tough marker, so don’t get all hot and bothered if you’re not a fan of my outlook. And No. 2) It’s July 24th, so yes, I realize a lot can still happen between now and puck drop on October 9th in Montreal.
MY GRADE: B
With respect to a few depth signings, so far, the Leafs have only officially added three new players of significance to their roster. On top of that, they’ve lost a bevy of names – including Tyler Bertuzzi – to free agency. That said, they were able to re-sign Max Domi, and at a reasonable rate, too. Kudos to them. That was a solid deal, and undoubtedly, he left money on the table to stay in Toronto.
On paper, there’s no question that the Leafs are a much better team than they were a month ago on the blue line. Chris Tanev, who’s widely regarded as one of the best shutdown guys in the entire league, was a big-time addition —regardless of what you think about the contract they handed him. He’s big, strong, and physical. Indisputably, he checks a lot of boxes. Additionally, he shoots right, something the Leafs have coveted in the top 4 on their back end for a long time now. Furthermore, he could do wonders for Morgan Rielly’s game. All in all, it’s tough to naysay the Tanev pick-up for Brad Treliving and company.
Meantime, Oliver Ekman-Larsson was another cheeky pick-up. If slotted correctly, it’s conceivable to suggest that the 33-year-old, who’s fresh off winning a Stanley Cup in Florida, is fully capable of grossly outplaying his contract. In a perfect world, Ekman-Larsson will play bottom pairing minutes and on the power play, too. In addition to that, if he plays as well as he did in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, perhaps he could sneak his way up the depth chart.
Then there’s Anthony Stolarz, who will most likely start as the 1B option in a tandem with Joseph Woll. He’s a big dude who covers a lot of net. The 30-year-old is coming off a great year and the hope is that he’ll push his partner for playing time. Even though he’s been around a while, Stolarz has the potential to break through even more than he did with the Panthers.
Up front, the Leafs have some work to do —plain and simple. Compared to some of the perennial contenders in the NHL, they lack some serious depth. Once again, that’s the byproduct of holding onto the Core Four for yet another year. Instead, they chose to reallocate some of their dollars from forward to defence, which if you’re not going to make a big trade, makes a lot of sense.
Keeping all that in mind, I think the brain trust have done a very respectable job. There’s certainly work to be done, but at this point, it’s fair to state that they possess a much more balanced roster than they have in year’s past. I’ll call it a win.
