Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll makes as save as Boston Bruins Brad Marchand (63) and Charlie Coyle (13) look for a rebound during third period action in Game 6 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Toronto on May 2.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
In retrospect, signing John Tavares caused all this trouble.
That’s not Tavares’s fault. He held up his side of the bargain. But he also blew up the Leafs’ internal economy.
Before Tavares, the Leafs might have got away with paying their young stars market rates. After Tavares, they had to pay them Tavares rates. Next year, Toronto will be the only team in the NHL paying four guys US$11-million-plus per annum.
When Tavares arrived, it was understood that the last couple of years of his deal would look a little rough. The Leafs are in that period now – paying an A1 all-star salary to a second-line centre who has trouble keeping up.
Tavares has one year left on his deal. The presumable goal is to struggle over that hump, pass the team on to Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, and get a little change back to sign someone to do the grunt work.
It’s a workable idea. In theory. But when you apply it in a high-pressure practical scenario – say, right now – you see how shaky it is.
The Leafs beat the Bruins 2-1 on Thursday. Plenty of Toronto players upped their level in an elimination scenario – Joseph Woll, Matthew Knies, Tyler Bertuzzi and Joseph Woll jump out at you. (Woll deserves two mentions.)
The Bruins went nearly two games without scoring, and Woll has turned into Turk Broda. Wake your children up and let them know – anything really is possible.
From the off, the Leafs looked like different from the team that played here a few days ago. They didn’t sleepwalk through the first 10 minutes. They got down in front of pucks. When Brad Marchand waved his red cape, they declined to walk through it.
Most of all – no silly mistakes. This was the most put together Leafs performance in ages.
The Leafs are on the cusp of something special – not just beating the Bruins, but perhaps also changing their self-perception. If a Toronto team can beat a Boston team, then what else can this city do? All of Toronto’s problems would suddenly seem solvable.
There’s one wrinkle in this developing good-news story – the guys the Leafs want to run the show can’t be on stage together at the same time.
Nylander missed the first two games, and didn’t really pop up again until getting the benefit of a Boston own-goal on Thursday night. Then he scored another. With Matthews gone, Nylander is the new No. 1. Marner has had a couple of moments, but for the most part he has been a sulky, peripheral presence. Regardless of how this playoff run ends, he is the team’s most obvious loser.
He was once the No. 2 man on the depth chart. Now he’s the junior man in the Big Three, and in danger of being blamed for everything that’s wrong with the club.
Matthews is a special case. There’s something wrong with him, and it isn’t the flu. So it’s hard to say how long he played hurt, or how hurt he is now, or how bad it was in the two-plus games he did play.
He won Game 2 almost singled-handed. Aside from his four-goal debut, that may have been Matthews’ signature performance in Toronto.
But he’s been absent for two games plus one period and a strange thing has happened – the Leafs have got better.
They have more zip. They are less tenuous. They play a tougher, less predictable game. Whatever it is they are doing, it has bamboozled the Bruins. Boston managed only one shot in the first period last night.
The Bruins thought they understood the Leafs, and they did. With Matthews gone, Boston is back to guessing.
Before Game 5, Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe wouldn’t entirely rule Matthews out. He didn’t play and the Leafs won.
On Thursday, Matthews was out for the morning skate again, but Keefe didn’t bother playing coy. He ruled Matthews out of Game 6 around noon.
Again, we won’t know what is wrong with Matthews until after the Leafs are out, and maybe never know exactly. But if it’s not something serious, one may wonder about the lack of urgency right now.
Is Matthews not playing because he’s too badly hurt? Or is he being told to heal completely because things are working out without him?
On Thursday morning, Keefe seemed to give the latter impression. He credited Toronto with playing a more “disciplined” and “consistent” game with Matthews gone.
“I think it’s more the confidence our team has and how it’s responded when players are out,” Keefe said. “It shows the strength of the group. Not looking to others to do your job.” I get that Keefe is trying to pay his second-tier guys a compliment, but it’s hard not to hear a small indictment of Matthews.
Wouldn’t it be better if the team could be disciplined and consistent with their best player in the line-up? And nobody should be expected to do Matthews’ job. That’s why he’s paid so much more than everyone else.
There is one way to short-circuit this discussion – win on Saturday. If the Leafs come back on the Bruins, no one will care how they did it. That triumph garlands everyone wearing blue.
But if they can’t manage it, this will be the focus of the off-season. Why are the Leafs at their best when they are missing at least one of their biggest resource hoarders? Is there another way to organize this team? Maybe one that scores less, but shows a little more discipline and doesn’t take naps on the ice, per their coach.
Matthews isn’t to blame for the fact that his teammates can’t seem to get it together until he’s not there to bail them out. But the Leafs are to blame for creating an environment where things need to be right on the edge before everyone else decides to turn the volume up to 10.