There’s some reason for optimism one month into the Leafs season

For me it’s Jack Campbell picking up where he left off last season. I was worried about him coming down to earth but he seems to prefer playing in the stratosphere. He has played brilliantly, and has given cover to a few of our underperforming defenceman as they try to find their games.

For me, it’s the chemistry of Ondrej Kase and David Kampf. I had this idea in my head (based on him playing the Leafs in the past) that Kase was an all-offence type of player who would be better suited for a top 6 role rather than being stapled to the checking line with a player who (we all assumed) would provide zero offence in Kampf, but they’ve been excellent together. Not only are they suppressing other team’s top performers, but they’re generating scoring chances and even picking up a few points. That said, Kase should be on the second power play unit over Pierre Engvall and that is the hill I will die on.

I’ve found the emergence of David Kampf as a shutdown center for the Leafs. He doesn’t generate much offensively, which should be no surprise, but he’s been spectacular at surpressing shot attempts and scoring chances when he’s on the ice, despite a majority of his zone starts being in the Leafs end. The fact that it’s his line that’s the best at suppressing chances and not the Matthews line is telling on it’s own, never mind that it’s up there as one of the best lines in the league at it as well. Kase and Engvall deserve some of the credit there as well, but Kampf has really held his own in this role, and surprised many despite being considered one of the Leafs weaker signings in the offseason.

It has to be Timothy Liljegren finally getting a shot with the big club and looking solid playing regular minutes. It’s been a long time coming after there some questions as to whether he would ever crack an NHL roster and if his status put him in danger of being a trade bait. Since a roster change that took Justin Holl out of the lineup, Liljegren has taken the opportunity presented and ran with it, showing glimpses of the player he was projected to be when the Leafs snagged him up on the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. His continued improvement and growing confidence will help ensure that the Leafs blue line remains a force for years to come. And with Liljegren continuing to get better with each passing game, it’s no wonder rumours began swirling about Holl and Travis Dermott being on the trade block.

My most pleasant surprise is that the Leafs got off to a rough start but found their way out of it without having to make any significant changes. Taking out Justin Holl in favour of Timothy Liljegren was something, but otherwise it was really just the shell shock of getting smoked by a mostly-injured Penguins team that set things going in the right direction. That’s good. Too often we’ve seen this team get knocked down like that and then stay down. Maybe things are finally starting to change.