Through the opening quarter of the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have fended off a wave of injuries to lead the hotly contested Atlantic Division. Auston Matthews will miss his eighth consecutive game, and the Maple Leafs have posted a 6-1 record in his absence thus far, rising over several hurdles through the opening two months. Toronto’s defence corps and goaltending have never looked better during the Matthews era, but there’s still a key area of concern that may be the lone commonality between Craig Berube and Sheldon Keefe’s teams: the Maple Leafs still have tremendous imbalance when it comes to secondary scoring, as 83.6 percent of Toronto’s 61 goals have been scored by seven players.
And with seven roster regulars out of the lineup for the Maple Leafs, the spirit of internal competition may be the answer to the secondary scoring woes. Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares have all elevated their games in Matthews’ absence, but they haven’t received much help throughout the lineup. Opportunity presents itself in strange ways and Fraser Minten, Nikita Grebenkin, Alex Steeves and Alex Nylander are not only being asked to push the incumbents during this stretch, but they could forge a permanent place on the roster, especially when the bottom-six isn’t producing any offense whatsoever.
Minten scored his first NHL goal during Wednesday’s 3-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, Grebenkin was a wrecking ball, Steeves is off to an excellent start with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and is looking to find his footing at the NHL level, while the younger Nylander is afforded a rare chance to play with his brother William — one of the hallmarks of the franchise who leads the team with 13 goals — while looking to carve out his own lane as a permanent NHL player.
“They’re up from the minors and they’re getting an opportunity here,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said Sunday morning. “They’re bringing good energy, shift-to-shift. And they’re playing hard and they have to continue to do that. Keep the game simple, don’t complicate it and just do their job and what we ask them to do.”
To be clear, this isn’t going to be an easy fix. No one is suggesting that Steeves or Nylander are better suited than Max Domi, David Kampf, Max Pacioretty or Calle Jarnkrok in the long run, while Matthews and Matthew Knies are pillars of the franchise. But there is opportunity to strike.
Domi was in a 13-game point drought prior to being placed on injured reserve and he won’t be replaced in any circumstances, but Minten could place some pressure on him to produce when he returns to the lineup. Ryan Reaves’ five-game suspension may keep him out of the lineup permanently as he’s produced no offence — while he’s beloved by his teammates for his personality and physicality, he’s rarely added anything of substance to the lineup.
Nick Robertson leads the Maple Leafs with seven drawn penalties at 5-on-5, but he’s also only produced one goal in 17 games. The same could be said of Pontus Holmberg, with one goal and three points in 18 contests, although he has utility on the penalty kill — but Minten projects as a defensive specialist with some secondary scoring punch at the NHL level, and may be graduating ahead of schedule.
For what it’s worth, Treliving appeared to provide Robertson with a vote of confidence while keeping all options open.
“You can say he’s struggling because there’s (no) production — the puck hasn’t gone in — but if his game was exactly the same as it was but a few more pucks had gone in, people would say Nick’s playing well. Nick has taken massive steps in his overall game — his checking game, his play away from the puck,” Treliving said recently to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.
“What we’re talking to him about is, yeah, we want production, we want everybody to score, but make sure you’ve got a backup game so that if it’s not going in for a period of time, what else are you bringing? You still got to contribute. I’ve been impressed. He works like a dog.”
Minten is Toronto’s second-ranked prospect behind Easton Cowan, who is lighting the Ontario Hockey League aflame once again with the London Knights, and there’s a natural inclination to be protective about his development. He’s just 20 years old, the 38th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, but he’s added strength and physicality to his cerebral game, and Sunday’s game could be another immersive step forward. He may be graduating ahead of schedule and if he can help provide some much-needed balanced scoring, there may be no turning back.
“He’s great. I think he’s really smart player, really understands the game, really understands his role,” Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly said Sunday morning about Minten. “And just a great young man, I got to spend some time with him, he has a great head on his shoulders. He fits right in.”
“It’s not easy. He’s gonna have really good days like he did that night, and there’s going to be tougher days. It’s about the big picture and just learning, pushing through. It’s on us to help him through it.”
Grebenkin was one of the training camp standouts and his size and physicality outweigh his choppy skating stride. He forchecks and backchecks and it very well may be the pathway to more lucrative paycheques if he can chip in as a scorer. A fifth-round pick of the 2022 NHL Draft, Grebenkin is already providing strong return on value and if he can chip in with a few goals, he could be a fourth-line replacement.
Pacioretty joined the Maple Leafs on a professional tryout agreement, provided a secondary scoring punch but he’s been out of the lineup since suffering an injury on November 9 and it’s fair to ask if he’ll be the same player after turning 36 earlier this week. Kampf is a defensive presence, whose cap hit and limited offensive production could see him usurped by Minten too.
Toronto’s top players have looked the part, the team is receiving outstanding defence and goaltending, but it simply needs more offense from the Other Guys. The Kids may have graduated ahead of schedule and they have a tremendous opportunity to solve the Maple Leafs’ greatest flaw through the opening quarter of the year.
