TORONTO – As the Toronto Maple Leafs slogged through a 30th-place finish last season, the braintrust dreamed of this type of turnaround.
Internally, there was a belief that strides had been made structurally under head coach Mike Babcock. Plug in more talent and – voila! – the goals were bound to follow.
At least that’s how the thinking went then.
Somewhat incredibly, it’s also exactly how things have played out so far. The Calgary Flames even arrived here Monday with a clear idea of the kind of speed game the Leafs would give them and couldn’t find a way to disrupt or counteract it.
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“We came and we played the way we wanted to,” Leafs rookie Mitchell Marner said after a 4-0 win. “We played fast tonight, but we didn’t get off track. We played the way we wanted to from the start and that was important for our team.”
At its best, this is a dynamic group capable of controlling the puck for long stretches and putting some big numbers on the scoreboard with the help of a potent power play. The Leafs also boast a stout penalty kill and seem to be finding small edges all around the margins.
They now sit at 22-14-9 – an 11-point improvement through the same point a year ago – and are on pace to qualify for the playoffs less than 12 months after winning the draft lottery.
While the much-discussed rookie crop is responsible for a huge portion of the improvement, the holdovers are helping too. Nazem Kadri hit the 20-goal mark by beating Brian Elliott with two deceptive wrist shots on Monday and has completely erased the memories of a season where a 6.5 per cent shooting percentage dragged him down.
He worked with the team’s skills coaches on his release late last season and spent the summer doing specific exercises to improve arm strength, but believes the biggest change is luck.
“(I’m not) even getting more chances,” said Kadri. “I think just being able to put the puck in the back of the net and cash in on my opportunities. Obviously last year was a year like no other in terms of just breaks and bounces and shooting percentage and all that stuff.
“You figured it had to change if you stuck with it.”
At this point, that might as well be adopted as an organizational philosophy.
The Leafs are on pace to score 54 more goals in 2016-17 and have four 60-plus point players: Marner, Auston Matthews, James van Riemsdyk and Kadri.
They only had two register more than 40 points last season.
While the year-over-year comparisons might seem like apples and oranges, they provide a pretty clear picture at how dramatically things have shifted. The Leafs aren’t even sneaking up on opponents at this point and are still winning more than they’re losing.
“They may not be the heaviest team, but the speed that they can play with and the skill that they have (is tough),” Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said before Monday’s game. “We’re going to have to be ready to skate. In the offensive zone, we’re going to have to hold pucks and try to wear them down. That’s the only way you kind of slow them down.
“You can’t feed their attack in any way, shape or form. They’ll be good enough on their own.”
Specialty teams have really helped tilt the scales.
Calgary gave Toronto four power plays and saw Kadri score from the top of the circle early in the third period to put this game to be bed. Zach Hyman also managed another short-handed goal for an energized Leafs penalty killing unit that went 5-for-5 by being extremely aggressive in its puck pursuit.
“We just did a lot better job today than we did against Ottawa (on Saturday),” said Hyman. “I mean Ottawa we were too passive and we let them have their way with us a little bit. Today we were more aggressive, and didn’t let them set up, and you can see a big difference.”
If you’ve been watching closely, the differences are everywhere.
This is a team that has the luxury of playing three of the NHL’s most tantalizing rookies – Marner, Matthews and William Nylander – on different forward lines at even strength. The Leafs also aren’t surrendering any advantage on specialty teams or in goal, with Frederik Andersen earning his second shutout of the season Monday by making 26 saves.
Then there are the players like Kadri who have been around long enough to fully appreciate how quickly the fortunes have changed here.
Not surprisingly, he’s on pace for a career-best 36 goals and 60 points.
“You know we don’t put numbers on this type of thing (before the season),” said Kadri. “That’s how you get in trouble. I just like to surpass my totals from the year before and just try to have career years every year.”
It’s all going to plan.
