Chicago Blackhawks-Toronto Maple Leafs Preview With Steve Dangle
Oct 20, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock talks to his team during the third period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild defeated the Maple Leafs 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs are at opposite ends of the expectation spectrum
Tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks will host the Toronto Maple Leafs on the second night of back-to-back games, following their 3-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. The two franchises came into the 2016-17 season with similar goals in mind, but at completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
The Leafs and Blackhawks both are relying on getting youthful in their roster make-ups, but for different reasons.
The Leafs are one of the youngest, if not the youngest team in the NHL with a large group of rookies and prospects leading the way. Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander will be looked to drive the Leafs this season in the only direction they can go, up.
Chicago is also relying on youthful talent to make big impacts for it this season. Tyler Motte, Vince Hinostroza and Nick Schmaltz will be looked at to step in and fill the gaps left by veteran trade deadline acquisitions and free agency signings of seasons past.
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Ahead of the first of two match-ups this season between Chicago and Toronto, I had the privilege to talk with Steve ‘Dangle’ Glynn, Maple Leafs YouTuber/Blogger with Sportsnet.ca to find out the finer details of the Leafs before the puck drops tonight.
Oct 20, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) looks on during the first period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild defeated the Maple Leafs 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Auston Matthews and the future of the Maple Leafs
Mario Tirabassi: So, Steve, looking at the Toronto Maple Leafs, this year has been pretty interesting with everything that has been going on over the last couple of years finally culminating with the first overall pick in this last summer’s NHL Entry Draft.
Toronto selects Auston Matthews and in his first game, pretty much shows why he was so coveted as the top draft pick. What is the vibe been like in Toronto since last season ended and through the first week of the season?
Steve Dangle: I think fans, for a couple of years now, have been cheering for a full-on ‘tank.’ You know, it’s been three or four years since I genuinely cheered for a Leafs win because I knew losses were probably what was best for the team.
Auston Matthews has excited and electrified the fanbase from the beginning of the World Cup and onward. We knew we were getting the first overall pick. We didn’t know how good he was going to be and holy smokes has he looked go so far. And, if anything, it has been the rest of the Leafs that have let him down. He has five goals, obviously after the four-goal game, and has given the Leafs four leads, spread over two games, and they have won neither of those games.
I think it’s really about balancing our expectations, because man was I excited after the first two games and then they way they responded with that terrible collapse against the Winnipeg Jets and then losing the second half of the back-to-back against the Minnesota Wild. Only four games into it and I’m already on an emotional roller-coaster.
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MT: And it’s been so long, like you said, that Leafs fans have had something to really cheer for so it’s understandable you want to jump on that roller coaster already.
Now it’s not just Matthews who has become the future of the Maple Leafs, this is a very young team when you look at the prospects and recent draft picks they have, guys like Mitch Marner, Connor Brown, and Zach Hyman, they have really become key parts of the Leafs already this year. William Nylander is another guy that is going to be part of the future.
What is the outlook like for a team that is so young at the moment, when you look two or three years down the road?
SD: The Leafs have, probably, the best forward group in terms of any system, in the NHL. They’re so gross. They’re so young upfront and like you mentioned, William Nylander is so young and so skilled already and he is pretty much an afterthought because he has fallen behind Matthews and Marner, and rightly so. Those are two sick players.
I mean, any Blackhawks fan can remember something like this from 2006 or 2007. The difference is that Leaf fans are waiting for their Duncan Keith and waiting for their Brent Seabrook, right? Morgan Reilly on defense, you know, people are talking about him as a future Captain and I think while that’s definitely possible as the team’s best defenseman, the guy was picked fifth overall in 2012. I think he is still only 22 years old, so the Leafs need to shore up their back-end. They have a couple of pieces with Reilly and Jake Gardnier, but they need to get better there.
I wrote an article on the Toronto Marlies and the forwards group and it’s visible down there too. Their AHL team has a few lines that could be fourth-lines in the NHL, maybe even third-lines. But then you look at their defensive pairings and it’s a lot more thin. So, I look at their young group of forwards and I wonder if they find some way to trade a couple of them for a defenseman or two. Because there is no way all of the forwards they have are going to make it to the show. There is just not enough spots.
Oct 21, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Chicago Blackhawks right wing Richard Panik (14) celebrates with teammates center Artem Anisimov (15), center Tyler Motte (64), and defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third period at Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Thank you for Richard Panik
MT: Right, and when you look into their roster make-up, you can’t just have all the young players, all the kids playing because then you just have an AHL team playing at the NHL level. You have to have your veterans in there and one player that was a part of the organization for a handful of years ended up coming to Chicago was Richard Panik. Now he is playing on the top-line for the Blackhawks, but it doesn’t sound like many Leafs fans really miss Panik, knowing that the future is so bright. Is that probably a true statement?
SD: I think that is true, but I still think there a plenty of fans that definitely didn’t like that trade. I think it was Richard Panik for Jeremy Morin straight up.
MT: Yeah, the Blackhawks legend.
SD: Yeah, and like, what is Jeremy Morin’s problem? Because then the Leafs traded him to the San Jose Sharks and then the Sharks let him go. I thought this was a guy with a lot of talent. What that trade was, was yeah, I think the Leafs were hoping to get something out of Morin, which they obviously didn’t.
But, it was a courtesy to Richard Panik. It was a courtesy to give him a shot somewhere, because he clearly wasn’t going to get it in Toronto. There were some really blue-chips prospects here in the AHL, that were barely getting any playing time and some of them even got healthy-scratched during the AHL playoffs because they were a power-house.
They finished with over 50 wins and 114 points. Panik was part of that team. He was kind of this weird, in-betweener. It was obvious he should be playing in the NHL but they wanted to focus on developing the prospects, and was he a prospect? No.
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Panik is perfect for the Blackhawks. He is not a first-line player on a lot of teams, but what helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup? Obviously the star-power, Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, all the guys that make a ton of money.
Then you have the secondary guys who make mid-range money, Nick Bonino and Carl Hagelin, but it’s the Bryan Rust‘s and Conor Sheary‘s, the bargain-bin guys. Because they pay their stars so much money, they have to get good production out of the bargain-bin. Panik can be one of those guys for the Blackhawks. I’m glad he has found his niche. I mean first-line with the Blackhawks? You could definitely do worse.
MT: Right, it’s not the worst thing in the world to play alongside Jonathan Toews.
Oct 20, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock looks on during the third period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild defeated the Maple Leafs 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
The Matchup
MT: So, moving into Saturday night’s match-up, obviously the Leafs get their rest-day on Friday after games in Winnipeg and Minnesota. Chicago will be playing the second of back-to-back games after losing to Columbus. What are you looking for for the Leafs as they come into Chicago?
SD: I’m looking for their ability hold a darn lead. They’ve only done it once so far this season against the Boston Bruins. Offensively, they’re looking fine. I mean, against Minnesota they only had two goals, but before that they scored four goals in three straight games. Which, I know, is old-hat for any Blackhawks fans. But for Leafs fans, that’s exciting. So, I’m looking to see how they do against Chicago’s defense.
What will also be interesting is, the Leafs forward group has been relying on their speed and know they’re going up against the Blackhawks who definitely have their own guys who can match that. Toews, Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin, and of course I would watch for the inevitable Richard Panik hat-trick, because we know it’s coming.
MT: Well, that wouldn’t be bad for us.
SD: I also, wouldn’t mind a solid performance out of Frederik Andersen. The Leafs went out and spent all this money on new goaltending this year and obviously, on paper it has improved but the problem is Andersen was playing on the Bruce Boudreau Anaheim Ducks, playing behind a very good defense group and the Leafs just don’t have that. I mean, I expected him to start slow. I think anytime a starting goaltender goes to a different team, there going to be a little shaky. So the Blackhawks might be able to take advantage of that.
MT: You know, looking at Andersen’s season so far, he hasn’t been statistically all that impressive for what he was brought in for. Is it troubling for you as a Leafs fan, to have a starting goalie begin the year like Jonathan Bernier did last season?
SD: No, I’m not too concerned. The stats are terrible of course, but watching the games and watching the help he was given against the Jets and I have a hard time faulting him for any of those goals. Two of the goals he has allowed this season have been overtime goals with Kyle Turris, who is an assassin, left wide open and then Patrick Laine, who we now know is an assassin, again left wide open with all that open-ice.
I mean, at the very least you have to throw some people in front of Carey Price, Cory Schneider, you have to give your goalie some help. You’re facing the best players in the world and if you’re going to face 30-40 shots a game, you got to give him some help and they haven’t really done that yet. so yeah his numbers suck, but so do the Leafs defensively. Offensively I’m not worried and that’s been the story through four games so I hope it gets better.
Oct 18, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Artem Anisimov (15) celebrates his goal against Philadelphia Flyers with right wing Patrick Kane (88) during the third period at the United Center. The Hawks won 7-4. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Prediction
MT: So do you have any sort of prediction for the night and how it might go?
SD: Yeah, I’m sorry, that was unfair earlier to say that Richard Panik was going to score three goals. He’s actually going to score four and the Blackhawks probably will win a tight one. Let’s give them the 4-3 win, and in the shootout. Leafs finally find a way to get to the shootout and still lose.
MT: So it will be another game where the Leafs still pick up a point?
SD: Yeah. Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t mind that but at some point you have to start racking up the wins. I mean one of the things profiled about Auston Matthews is that he really, really hates to lose, and the losses have not been his fault, so I hope that doesn’t start eating at him. And Blackhawks fans should hope for that too because he’s an American and part of your future internationally.
MT: Yeah I can’t wait to see him in, well maybe or maybe not the next Olympics, but when the next World Cup rolls around.
SD: Yeah he is a treat to watch. Watch him stick-lift the crap out of guys, it’s really fun to watch.
MT: Definitely will have to keep my eye on that on Saturday night. Steve Dangle of Sportsnet.ca, thank you for your time looking into the Toronto Maple Leafs organization and what the Blackhawks have coming to town Saturday night. We should do this again some time.
SD: For sure! Thank you.
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