Roundtable: Which player have you been the most surprised with this season?

The Leafs won last night again and that was fun as heck. We got an Auston Matthews goal, and a lowlight all-time own goal from Kris Russell. It was surprising, to say the least.

Today, we asked our staff a mostly unrelated question: Which player have you been the most surprised with this season?

For me, it would have to be Morgan Rielly. It’s a wonder what a stable D partner can do, isn’t it? To be sure, this season up to the quarter mark has been a coming-out party for Rielly, who looks poised to really solidify his role as a top pairing guy by season’s end. For every step backwards Jake Gardiner has taken during his early struggles, Rielly has taken two forward, and I’m ecstatic to see him continue to grow.

I have been very pleasantly surprised with Andreas Borgman. When the two Swedish D, him and Rosén, were signed, I fully anticipated Rosén being able to transition to the NHL quicker due to skating speed. However, this has not been the case. Borgman has been a perfect bottom pair D-man, with the confidence to attack in the offensive zone, but the intelligence to cover himself and be a comfortable defensive presence. I’m very curious to see where his game grows, and what the Leafs can make of this gift of an excellent young defenseman, acquired for nothing but the cost to scout him.

(Including this beautiful piece of original artwork!)

My choice would have to be Nazem Kadri. After a huge season last year I was expecting to see a decline either in his play or production. But so far he’s been showing that his growth last season wasn’t a fluke. He’s on pace to surpass his point total from last year, while once again being deployed in a shutdown role. I’m eager to see if he can improve on what he’s already accomplished. That said, please enjoy this quick sketch of the future Selke winner.

My biggest surprise has been Jake Gardiner’s play this season. Usually Gardiner can be relied on for “steady” defense, if one could call it that, and was very consistent. But this season he’s taken a huge step back, and in a year where it would’ve been great if he could be his usual self. Whether it be because he’s playing with Zaitsev, bad luck, or just him having a bad year like most players do, Gardiner has definitely been disappointing this season, coming from a guy who a couple years ago would consider him one of the better d-men in the league

Matt Martin has eight points in 25 games this season – he only scored nine points last season. If Martin continues at this pace he will get around 25 points. Not too shabby for a ‘enforcer’. Now obviously Martin has his issues, he is pretty slow, can’t play on the penalty kill or powerplay and only averages just over eight minutes a night. But the play he has displayed at times this season has been above what I thought he could ever do – like his three point night at St Louis or even his goal against Edmonton last night. So yeah, I have been pleasantly surprised that Martin has been useful this season. It helps too that he has played a lot of ice time with Mitch Marner and William Nylander.

Interestingly, Martin has scored a point every 25.87 minutes this season – Tyler Bozak scores points at a rate of 36.63 minutes and Patrick Marleau scores a point every 26.47 minutes.

 

I’ll go with Connor Brown. It’s true that he may be destined to be an unsung hero for the entirety of his Leafs tenure based on the other members of his rookie class. But while a 20-goal introduction actually earned him a demotion to the 4th line to start the season, Brown has since seen time with pretty much every Toronto centre. Most recently he’s played his way up to riding shotgun with Auston Matthews, completing the 1st and 4th-line switch with William Nylander. Along the way he’s potted some big goals (the breakthrough game-winner in Washington and the spirit-breaker in Montreal come to mind) but the most important thing that Downtown does for the Leafs is that he does everything. Sure, he fits on any 5v5 line, which is no small feat on the Leafs. But he’s also the only Leaf averaging 90 seconds per game on both the powerplay and the penalty kill. To call Connor Brown a utility man or a jack-of-all-trades would seem to imply that he’s only passable at any of the things he’s asked to do. So far this year he’s shown he’s much more than that, and the Leafs are better for it.

I think my biggest surprise this season is Ron Hainsey. I’ll be honest I had no idea what to expect from a 36 year old who didn’t look very good in the playoffs, from what I remember. He is definitely playing a lot better than what I thought he would. Him and Rielly play the tough minutes and they’re playing those minutes pretty well. In fact, Rielly looks like he’s playing the best hockey of his career and I think that’s partly due to playing with Hainsey. 50.6 CF% which is pretty good for the most part. His xGF is right above 50%, which isn’t lighting the world on fire, but not bad. Not trying to paint him out to be this elite defenseman, but I’m pleasantly surprised by how well he’s playing, relative to my expectations.

Andreas Borgman. I had no idea who he was when he was signed out of Sweden, and every scouting report just told me he was a defense-first kind of guy. Little did I know that he would be saving Roman Polak’s career by December. His 50.9% CF makes him a positive possession player at even strength, he can rock an opponent into another dimension, and he’s even started rushing the puck more. Do you remember his goal against St. Louis? No one told me he could snipe like that! And considering that the Leafs have him locked up for under a million dollars, I’m really excited to see where his development goes. He has absolutely been the player who has flabbergasted me the most so far.

I’m surprised by Leo Komarov. Not so much because of his performance because I don’t really expect much of him and despite him not living up to those low expectations he’s not keeping anyone up at night worrying about him costing the Leafs games. I’m just more surprised that with a ready and capable supply of better, younger, cheaper defensemen that he hasn’t been dumped on Dale Tallon for Mark Pysyk.