Ushering in a New Generation: Toronto Maple Leafs

Ushering in a New Generation, features our talented writer Katlyn Gambill taking a deeper look into team success based on a player’s age. Today, she looks at the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are the sixteenth oldest team in the league.

At an average player age of 27.52 years, the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the younger side of the league. Unfortunately though, they could not use their youth to their advantage this season.

This year the Maple Leafs fell flat, again. After making a costly trade with Boston to acquire Phil Kessel, the Leafs saw their future disappear. Toronto gave Boston their first and second round pick in the 2010 draft and their first round pick in the 2011 draft.

Unfortunately, Kessel did not save the Leafs. He missed the first month of the season because of a shoulder injury. Plus he never prolifically scored for the Leafs. Kessel even finished the last six games of the season with only one assist.

Then, at the end of January, their season mostly gone, the Leafs traded away Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers, and Ian White. Those four skaters produced 108 points with the Leafs this season and an additionally 48 with the Calgary Flames.

In return from the Flames, the Leafs acquired Dion Phaneuf and Fredrik Sjostrom. Neither outstandingly succeeded in Toronto.

Furthermore, the Leafs traded veteran Jason Blake to the Anaheim Ducks. He registered only 26 points with the Leafs this year after successfully recording 63 the year before.

Though most of the younger teams happily absorbed the youth’s talent, the Leafs could not seem to make it work. Their youth hurt them more than anything.

Defenseman Luke Schenn, who had a fantastic rookie year in 2008-2009, flopped. He became a liability on the ice many nights, that is when he did not sit up in the press box as a healthy scratch.

With the big trade in the second half of the season, the Leafs once more traded away their future by surrendering sturdy defenseman White. His number may not exceed anyone’s expectations, but he did learn a lot the last two seasons.

Though Phaneuf is a year younger than White and the better of the two, he could become the Leafs’ next captain. At 25 years old, Phaneuf already played with one of the best centers in the game, Jarome Iginla. He knows leadership from Iginla.

Yet, one of the other big stories throughout the year (and offseason) with the Leafs comes at the expense of Tomas Kaberle. The defenseman has a no-trade clause in his contract, but the Leafs constantly seem ready to trade him away.

Kaberle, 32 years old, ranks as the oldest defenseman on the Leafs. His play never lived up to what the Leafs hoped he could become. Although, in the last five years he broke the 40 point mark four times, and only missed on the fifth year because he missed 25 games.

General manager Brian Burke already stated this offseason that he has some interest from other teams for Kaberle, and the defenseman could relocate soon.

If Kaberle does receive a trade, it could possibly involve the Leafs acquiring a draft pick for the first or second round.

But wait, the Leafs had goaltending issues all year too.Vesa Toskala started the year as the starting netminder, but quickly lost that spot after the first four games (which he lost).

Additionally though, Toskala suffered many injuries throughout the year before the Leafs finally traded him to the Ducks.

Jonas Gustavsson went on to play 42 of the remaining games for the Leafs. Unfortunately, in December, Gustavsson left after the first period of a game due to a heart murmur. He played just 16 days later.

With Toskala gone, the Leafs grabbed Jean-Sebastian Giguere from the Ducks. Giguere won six of his fifteen games with the Leafs– with his first two wins coming by shutout.

Despite all the drama and heartache the Leafs gave their fans this year, their age could help in the future. Their oldest player, Wayne Primeau(34 years), may not last much longer with the Leafs. But, after that their youth will develop into a strong team that could possibly resemble this years’ Chicago Blackhawks (with a few strong draft picks though).

Unfortunately, the Leafs gave up their first round draft pick this year, which ended up as the second overall pick. That move will hurt the Leafs in many years to come.

Probably the biggest factor to worry about next season though comes in the form of injuries. Seventeen players suffered injuries this year, and many of them lasted a significant time. Youth can bounce back from injuries, but not all the time.

Katlyn Gambill
NHLHS Feature Writer
kgambill@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @freezethepuck