TORONTO – It was, at worst, a three-quarters approximation of what these Toronto Maple Leafs will look like when things get going for real.
The lineup for the first and only exhibition game slated for Air Canada Centre this fall offered us the first true opportunity to begin seeing what this group might be.
Exciting?
Sure … Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Co. are bound to have their fair share of moments this season.
Better than last year’s 30th-place squad?
Yes, but that’s an awfully low bar to try and clear.
Competitive?
Well, even they’re not entirely sure what to expect.
“There’s lot of excitement around our team, lots of potential,” James van Riemsdyk said before Sunday’s 3-2 overtime win over Montreal. “Once you see the lines up there, once we start getting more in this setting, it’s exciting to see what everyone can do.
“Because everything looks great on paper, but now we’ve got to go out there and show what we can do on the ice.”
And so it began with 64-plus minutes against a team that more closely resembled the St. John’s IceCaps than the Canadiens. The Leafs controlled the puck to a degree you’d expect, given the talent disparity, but didn’t make enough use of it for coach Mike Babcock’s liking.
He thought his young forwards were guilty of spending too much side on the outside stickhandling, rather than taking the puck to the more congested areas of the offensive zone from which goals come.
However, the game also came with a few reminders about why there should be a lot more smiles around the ACC than last year.
“Skill, and just having some,” said Babcock. “We’ve got way more skill, period. Skating, shooting, stickhandling, hockey sense. More skill.”
That Matthews is capable of doing each of those things at a high level was obvious during more than 18 minutes of ice time. There were times he looked like a shark with the manner in which he tracked the puck around the offensive zone.
During a second-period power play, he curled into the middle and sent a shot off the crossbar over Mike Condon’s shoulder.
“It was open and I knew it was open,” said Matthews. “I’m saving them for the regular season, I guess.”
Clearly, one of the biggest potential growth opportunities for the 2016-17 Maple Leafs is in the offensive zone. Only two teams scored fewer than the 198 goals they produced last season, and that went a long way to explaining a dismal 69-point campaign.
But to see Matthews sharing the same ice as Marner and Nylander and defenceman Nikita Zaitsev – whom Babcock described as being “the best of them tonight by far,” after Sunday’s game – was to see possibility.
Long-suffering fans probably experienced a long-forgotten feeling: hope.
The challenge is finding a way to get things organized quickly with an 82-game season set to open in less than a week and a half. Babcock, Matthews, and a handful of others have just rejoined the team following the World Cup, and the coach will be spending as much time as possible getting his rookies to make better decisions with the puck.
Even with the jump in talent, the focus begins with how to do the right things defensively.
“I think that with the amount of talent our young guys bring to the table I think [scoring is] just going to happen naturally,” said defenceman Morgan Rielly. “As a team, we want to continue to get better as a whole – playing defence first, neutral zone and then I think the offence will take care of itself. … I don’t think it’s anything we’re going to have to force.”
That much was clear if you were in the seats on Sunday night. You saw Zaitsev cleverly moving along the blue line and Marner looking much more composed than a year ago, and you got to cheer when Nylander found Rielly with a nifty pass for a goal.
On top of all that, there was a No. 1 overall pick playing his first game for the Maple Leafs for the first time since the 1980s.
Matthews, the Arizona native, didn’t even feel nervous.
“It’s hockey – you’ve got to go out there and perform,” he said. “If you’re afraid to make a mistake or anything you’re going to go make a mistake. You go out there and play.”
On this night, the Leafs dressed a strong lineup and reminded everyone that there is something better on the horizon here. Just how much better?
Well…
“There’s 30 teams in the National Hockey League right now that all think they have a chance, they’re all optimistic like us,” said Babcock. “The first question is we’ve got all these kids. Everyone thinks they’re good.
“Let’s find out.”
