Santo Claus; The Gift that Keeps on Giving

This Leafs season has a couple of ties to the Nashville Predators. On November 19th the Preds handed the Leafs a 9-2 loss at the ACC, which proved to be the wakeup call this team needed, going 9-1-1 since the mid November debacle. During this streak, the Leafs have seen improved play from a majority of the team, however, they have been led by an unsuspecting player, who happens to be a former Nashville Predator.

 Mike Santorelli was picked 178th overall in the 6th round of the 04 NHL entry draft by the Predators. Santorelli spent the bulk of his time in Milwaukee with the Preds AHL affiliate, scoring 171Pts (74G, 97A) over 3 seasons with the Preds AHL affiliate. He only ended up playing 32 games with the big club in Nashville, making his NHL debut in the 08/09 season. In 2010/11 Santorelli became a member of the Florida Panthers, and finally experienced his first full 82 game season, where he posted his career highs in goals (20), assists (21) and points (41). Following the success of this season, he would experience a huge drop off, appearing in only 60 games. During the lockout season he played 4 games in Sweden for Tingsryds AIF, and 24 games for the Panthers, before eventually ending up in the AHL once again and closing out the season in Winnipeg. It appeared as though he would end up another journeyman playing in the NHL, bouncing from team to team, never being able to find a home.

 Last season, Santorelli signed with his 4th NHL team, the Vancouver Canucks. In what was a productive season, he played 49 games and finished the season with 10G, 18A for 28Pts, while also earning league wide recognition for his play on the penalty kill. However, the theme of not being able to stick with an NHL club continued as Santorelli did not receive a new contract from the Canucks. Luckily for the Leafs, and Santorelli, this season Dave Nonis and the rest of the Toronto front office realized that depth was something an NHL team needed to do things like win hockey games.

 In an offseason where the Leafs turned their attention to addressing the depth (or lack thereof) on the team, by signing guys such as; Leo Komarov, Daniel Winnik and David Booth. Perhaps the best offseason move the Leafs made came on July 3rd when the signed Mike Santorelli to a 1yr, $1.5 million deal. In the Leafs current 9-1-1 streak, Santorelli leads the team in scoring (3G, 10A, 13 Pts) and seems to have found great chemistry on the Leafs hottest line alongside Kadri and Winnik. For the season, Santorelli has 6G, 16A, 22Pts, which puts him on pace to set career highs in all three categories. Santorelli is 4th overall in team scoring, behind only Kessel, Bozak and JVR, and is tied for 2nd overall in the entire league in +/- (+17). Also, Santorelli (along with Winnik) has been a pivotal piece of the Leafs 10th ranked penalty kill. For a $1.5 million dollar "prove it" contract, so far Santorelli is setting himself up for an "I proved it, now pay me" contract next offseason.

 It has been fun to watch the Leafs on this current streak, and all of us in Leafs nation hope that it continues. The highlight for me personally has been the emergence and consistent play of Mike Santorelli, a journeyman NHLer who is quickly becoming a fan favourite here in Toronto. It's still too early to tell if he will finally be able to land a long term deal to stay with the Maple Leafs, however, if he continues to play at the level he is, this may turn out to be a match made in hockey heaven, and Santorelli may finally have found a place to call home.

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Maple Leafs; a One Liner No More

For as long as the Kessel, VanReimsdyk and Bozak line has been together, the Leafs have been known as a one line team, that are easy to handle when the top line isn't producing. However, some bargain free agent signings last offseason, the emergence of Peter Holland, and a lot of 'O' from the 'D', have allowed the Leafs to get a glimpse of what it's like to have depth in their lineup.

  David Clarkson  (7G, 1A, 9 Pts) makes $5.25 million a year. Daniel Winnik, David Booth, Leo Komarov and Mike Santorelli combined make $4.8 million, this is a testiment to how much more productive last offseason was to the year prior. In an uncharachteristic move, Dave Nonis  approached last offseason a little differently than in years past. Instead of paying one large contract to a big name free agent, Nonis signed multiple players to smaller contracts, a move that (so far) is paying off nicely for the 3rd year GM. The largest contract the Leafs offered last offseason was to Leo Komarov, a move that no Leafs fan could argue was a bad one. In 23 GP Komarov has 4G, 12A, 16 Pts, which has him on pace to easily surpass the numbers he put up during his first stint with the blue & white. Mike Santorelli has been one of the least talked about, most productive Leaf players all season. Santorelli (4G, 14A, 18Pts), along with Daniel Winnik (1G, 8A, 9Pts) have not only been productive on the score sheet, but both have been pivotal on the PK which currently ranks 11th in the NHL, a drastic improvement from what we saw last season where the Leafs ended up with the 28th ranked PK in the league. The final bargain signing for the Leafs this offseason was David Booth (1yr, $1.1 million), unfortunately for Booth he has missed most of the season with a broken foot suffered in the preaseason, after another few games getting his legs back, we should start to see what he will bring to the lineup. It is unclear as to who is really running this team following last offseasons various hirings and firings. One thing is evident however, coach Carlyle was forced to change at least some of his coaching tactics.

   If there is one player that has beneffited from the changes made by the Leafs last offseason, its Peter Holland. Holland was acquired in a trade last season that saw Anaheim receive defenseman Jesse Blacker, and two draft picks from the Leafs. When given more than 4:00 minutes of ice time, Holand showed flashes of great play and offensive skill, however, no matter how successful he was, much like the rest of the bottom six forwards last season, he would see less than 8:00 minutes of ice time a night. This season to start, it appeared we would be seeing (or not seeing) more of the same. However, recently Holland has been seeing an increased amount of ice time, and much like last season, increased production when he actually sees the ice. As it sits right now Holland has 5G, 4A, 9Pts and has been shooting the puck a ton. Hopefully, Randy Carlyle's new found confidence in the centre will allow his ice time to continue to increase, because it seems like the more he plays, the better he plays, and production from Holland would make the Leafs bottom six that much more effective. The Leafs have always been knocked for their lack of scoring depth, this season the additions to the forward core and their production have only been helped by the fire power from the Leafs back end.

  So far this season the Leafs have been seeing great offensive production from their defense. The Leafs defense might not be the best in the league (at all), and as much as they need to focus on their defensive game, the offense they are providing doesn't hurt. Heading in to tonight's game against the Canucks, the Leafs defense has 58 points (12G, 48A) which has them on pace to top their numbers from last season. Special mention has to go to Cody Franson who has 18 of those 58 points, is 6th in team scoring and 13th in the league when it comes to points for a defenseman. Franson is in his 3rd one year deal with the Leafs, and is quitely having his best season with the team. If he continues to play at the level he has been playing, the Leafs will have to decide once and for all whether they will sign him to the long term deal he's been looking for (if they dont someone will), or trade him at the deadline. If the defense can keep up with thier point production, while tightening up their defensive game and responsibilites, the Leafs defense may end up being one of the teams greatest strengths by seasons end.

   Although it's never good when your top line goes silent and isn't producing, as a Leafs fan it's nice to know the team has the firepower to still compete in any given game if the big three go silent in a game. The evidence of the depth is clear; with the top line slowing down in 6 games prior to the game against the Devils, the Leafs top line posted 9G, 8A for 17Pts, where as the rest of the team combined for 16G, 25A for 41Pts in the same span. If the Leafs depth players and defense can continue to produce at a steady rate, whenever the top line does play like we all know they are capable of, this Leafs team will be a force to be wreckoned with, and potentially, a dangerous post season opponent to any team.
   

  

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