So begins the Peter Horachek era in Toronto, right as the Leafs hit the half-way mark of the 2014-15 season.
Fans expecting a miracle cure of the primary faults of the roster will almost certainly be disappointed, but it will be interesting to see, a) if there’s a visible hop in the Leafs’ step after yesterday’s kick in the butt, and b) how some of these new lines look.
The first move appears to be to split Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel up, with Kadri (if he’s fit to play, gametime decision) playing alongside Kessel and Winnik on a line that on paper looks far more likely to drive possession.
The lines, overall, look to have a better balance, but again we’ll have to see how long things last. Certainly Horachek is less likely to default to the same line ideas as Carlyle, and has to be feeling a need to make the lineup his own.
One area that’s a question mark — The Leafs haven’t gotten any value out of Trevor Smith at center as far as production is concerned and he’s looked a step slow this season. The timing of demoting Carter Ashton after exposing him to waivers (they were hoping to find a taker who would give him a chance on a different NHL roster) just after the dismissal of Randy Carlyle is curious. That would seem to suggest the coaching staff was all on the same page when it came to his prospects here in Toronto (Carlyle never had much time for him). One simple solution would’ve been to move Santorelli to center with Smith scratched, opening up a wing spot for Ashton, and then seeing what he can do with a few games of appreciable icetime. There might be nothing there, and Ashton hasn’t shown as much as he could have in the sparse minutes he has played, but did he really get an honest look?
It’s not clear what if anything might change in terms of systems, but a full-on overhaul midseason seems unlikely, and Horachek was already involved in the neutral zone and defensive aspects. It’s also worth noting Ken Holland’s rule of thumb about systems – if there’s any significant changes, it takes 25 games for them to be fully in place and second-nature to the players. Horacheck did achieve an improvement in possession results in Florida over his 66 games there, a sample size beyond just the initial but sometimes temporary surge in effort after a coaching change.
For this group of players – even the typically media-oblivious Kessel was right in the thick of it yesterday and must be feeling the scrutiny – there has to be a feeling of heightened pressure for the second half of the season. It starts tonight with a tough task against the surging (7-1-2 in L10) Capitals.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup
Daniel Winnik – Nazem Kadri – Phil Kessel
(1-13-14) – (11-13-24) – (18-23-41) (30G, 79PTS TOT)
James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Mike Santorelli
(17-20-37) – (13-17-30) – (9-16-25) (39G, 92PTS TOT)
Leo Komarov – Trevor Smith – David Clarkson
(5-12-17) – (0-2-2) – (9-4-13) (14G, 32PTS TOT)
David Booth – Sam Carrick – Richard Panik
(1-1-2) – (0-0-0) – (7-1-8) (8G, 10PTS TOT)
Dion Phaneuf – Cody Franson
(2-20-22) – (6-18-24) (8G, 46PTS TOT)
Jake Gardiner – Korbinian Holzer
(2-7-9) – (0-4-4) (2G, 13PTS TOT)
Morgan Rielly – Roman Polak
(4-8-12) – (4-2-6) (8G, 18PTS TOT)
Jonathan Bernier
(15-9-3, 2.67GAA, .920SV%)
James Reimer
Scratched: Stephane Robidas, Greg McKegg
Injured: Peter Holland (upper body), Joffrey Lupul (lower body)
Washington Capitals Projected Lineup
Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Andre Burakovsky
(19-15-34) – (12-27-39) – (5-9-14) (36G, 87PTS TOT)
Marcus Johansson – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Troy Brouwer
(10-12-22) – (4-10-14) – (11-7-18) (25G, 54PTS TOT)
Brooks Laich – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward
(4-4-8) – (11-6-17) – (10-8-18) (25G, 43PTS TOT)
Jason Chimera – Jay Beagle – Tom Wilson
(3-5-8) – (5-5-10) – (2-7-9) (10G, 27PTS TOT)
Karl Alzner – Matt Niskanen
(3-5-8) – (2-10-12) (5G, 20PTS TOT)
Brooks Orpik – John Carlson
(0-9-9) – (4-24-28) (4G, 37PTS TOT)
Jack Hillen – Mike Green
(0-4-4) – (4-16-20) (4G, 24PTS TOT)
Braden Holtby
(18-8-6, 2.30GAA, .920SV%)
Justin Peters
Scratched: Michael Latta, Nate Schmidt
Injured: None
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Washington Capitals - Head to Head
| Head to Head: | Maple Leafs | Capitals |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 21-16-3 (.563% - 17th) | 20-11-7 (.618% - 12th) |
| Goal Differential | +8 (14th) | +13 (8th) |
| GF/G | 3.18 (2nd) | 2.92 (10th) |
| GA/G | 3.02 (25th) | 2.53 (12th) |
| PP | 20.1% (12th) | 23.5% (4th) |
| PK | 82.2% (12th) | 78.9% (22nd) |
| SF/G | 29.1 (21st) | 30.1 (15th) |
| SA/G | 34.4 (29th) | 28.6 (11th) |
| 5v5 SF/G | 27.5 (22nd) | 28.4 (16th) |
| 5v5 SA/G | 33.7 (29th) | 27.2 (7th) |
| 5v5 CF% | 44.5% (28th) | 51.4% (12th) |
| 5v5 FF% | 45.0% (28th) | 51.1% (15th) |
| 5v5 Sh% | 9.49% (1st) | 8.28% (10th) |
| 5v5 Sv% | 92.16% (19th) | 92.19% (18th) |
| FO% | 48.6% (21st) | 50.8% (13th) |
PP=Power Play %; PK=Penalty Kill %; GF/G=Goals for per game; GA/G=Goals against per game; SF/G=Shots for per game; SA/G=Shots against per game; Sh%=Shooting %; Sv%=Save percentage; F0%=Faceoff percentage; CF%=Corsi for % (shot attempts: shots, blocked shots, missed shots); FF%=Fenwick for% (shots+missed shots)
