Auston Matthews is tied in 4th place in goals scoring with Ovechkin and Malkin. Imagine if he wouldn't be playing alongside two rookies all season long.
Frederik Andersen has been among the league leaders in save pct. since early December. I heard last week that he was #2 statistically since that time.
The rookies are ALL playing extremely well (Marner, Nylander, Hyman, Brown, Carrick, Gauthier, Matthews, Soshnikov, Zaitsev) and i must admit that i'm shocked at how well Zack Hyman has been playing. I'm starting to wonder if he won't be named the next team captain, to be honest. I thought it'd be either between Matthews and Rielly, but i'm blown away by Hyman's work ethic and leadership. By the way, Freddy "The Goat" Gauthier has been nothing short of exceptional on the faceoff and i'm extremely impressed by his work ethic. He's also a very smart player.
Jake Gardner has played like a top 2 defenceman all season long. Kudos to the coaching staff for his tremendous progress over the past year or so. Nazem Kadri is playing his best hockey ever since he joined the Leafs and is a strong candidate for the Selky trophy, although never playing on the pk will hurt his chances. Morgan Rielly has been a stud defenceman all season long and he's far from having reached his potential. The likes of Polack and Hunwick have been steady and have provided much needed leadership to this young defence, which has played extremely well over the past few weeks. I'm also starting to appreciate the presence of Martin Marincin, whose size is much needed on this defence.
And finally, the veteran players (although still young men) have provided great support to this young squad. I tip my hat off to the likes of JVR, Komarov, Martin, Polack, Hunwick and Bozak.
Much of the Leafs' success is due to not only the great coaching staff they have, but management. Success starts at the top, just like failure. I can't say enough good things of Brendan Shanahan's management team, all the way through and down to GM Lou Lamoriello. Team ownership also deserves credit for willing to spend in areas that most people cannot see but which are crucial to any team's success. Did you know that no other team in hockey spends as much on analytics?? They employ about 10 people in their analytics dept. Guess who comes next? Nope, it's not an NHL team. It's Hockey Canada. Putting a large emphasis on analytics is greatly responsible for the team's success and the development of its young players.
By the way, the Leafs are #2 on the power-play and #4 for penalty-killing. Special teams have been crucial to the team's success this year.
Go Leafs Go!! :thumb:
