Maple Leafs' rebuild has hit fast-forward button
TORONTO – When Mike Babcock was hired as the Toronto Maple Leafs coach on May 21, 2015, he warned the fan base that the organization’s rebuilding plan meant “there’s pain coming.”
But 19 months later, the Maple Leafs are pain-free. A case can even be made that the Leafs are in the best shape they’ve been in more than two decades.
“We feel really good about ourselves – we’ve got a lot of confidence,” said Maple Leafs rookie Auston Matthews, 19, who wasn’t born the last time the city was this excited about its NHL team.
The Maple Leafs have won four in a row entering Sunday’s Centennial Classic outdoor game against the Detroit Red Wings at BMO Field (3 p.m. ET, NBC). Extending that streak would add more credibility to the growing belief that the Maple Leafs are significantly ahead of schedule in their renovation project.
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“This is a very important game for us,” said Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly. “We are treating this like we have to have these points. The (Red Wings) are in our division, and these are huge points for us.”
This game is an opportunity for the Maple Leafs to showcase how far they’ve progressed.
“I think all of us are coming together,” Matthews said. “We are learning quickly of what it takes to win hockey games. I think it’s important for us to continue to grow and build the young core from the ground up.”
The 16-12-7 Maple Leafs are three points out of a playoff spot, a noteworthy position considering that the franchise has missed the playoffs in 10 of the past 11 seasons.
“This is definitely an important game for us,” Matthews said. “We are almost at the midway point, and this group has come a long way. But there is still a long way to go.”
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This Maple Leafs’ run is all the more impressive because it is being led by youth. . Matthews leads the team with 18 goals and 30 points. Mitch Marner,19, ranks second on the team in points with 26. William Nylander, 20, is only two points behind Marner. All three players are rookies.
Rielly, the team's top defenseman, is in his fourth season, but he's only 22.
Toronto fans probably haven’t had this much fun watching a team since the Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark-led Maple Leafs reached back-to-back conference finals in 1993 and 1994.
No one should be surprised that the Maple Leafs ruling triumvirate of team president Brendan Shanahan, general manager Lou Lamoriello and Babcock has expedited the turnaround. These guys have known nothing but success in their careers.
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“People talk about the culture thing,” Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk said. “It’s a word that is thrown around a lot. But how do you accomplish that? I think it’s by a little details that you have to focus on every single day. It takes time to build that.”
No one in the Toronto organization is taking a bow for being ahead of schedule. That’s not their style.Points are not awarded for creating optimism within a city.
“Winning is a fine line," Babcock said. “I’m not sure there that’s much difference with what we were going through just before we started winning here and what we've done (recently).”
But everyone understands that this team might get another confidence boost if they win this nationally-televised game.
“There is going to be a lot of people watching,” Matthews said. “The city is buzzing right now because you have the world juniors going on and now with the outdoor game going, it is going to be fun.”
Babcock wants his players to enjoy the romance of playing outdoors and not lose sight of winning.
Van Riemsdyk has figured out he can do that.
“The best way to have a good memory of this game,” van Riemsdyk said, “is to win it.”
