There have been embarrassing moments, and there have been pathetic displays during the Toronto Maple Leafs season, and their performance in a 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena is in the running for one of the most disgraceful. The Leafs, because of the injury to Anthony Stolarz, and the fact that both Joseph Woll and Dennis Hildeby played on Wednesday, pressed rookie Artur Akhtyamov into the lineup for his first NHL start.
The 24-year-old has had an excellent second season with the AHL Marlies (20-12-4, 2.90 GAA, .903 save %) and deserved an NHL look, like some of the other achievers on the Leafs farm team, but his new teammates did not seem interested in helping out the Russian rookie, as they literally did not show up to play. Toronto was outshot 24-3 in the first period, but miraclously came out of the period trailing only 2-1.
Akhtyamov made 39 saves in the loss and maybe showed enough in his debut that in a year or two, the club in front of him with the next Leafs head coach will give him more support. The only bright spot, other than Toronto not earning any points with a victory or overtime loss, was the performance of the rookies. Easton Cowan played nearly 19 minutes and scored his 11th of the season to tie the game, Luke Haymes assisted on Morgan Rielly’s third-period tally for his first NHL point, and Jacob Quillan actually played more than the 10 minutes he is usually relegated too.
Out of town, the best news was the Seattle Kraken’s 4-3 overtime victory over Vegas, which drew the Kraken to within one point of Toronto in the overall standings. The Leafs will take on their division rival, the Florida Panthers, in what should be dubbed “the Tank Bowl” at home on Saturday. Both clubs are tied at 78 points, but Toronto is lower in the standings because the Panthers have more wins. If the Leafs lose in regulation, their final two games are against Dallas and Ottawa, two teams with playoff seeding and entry at stake, so it is possible for Toronto to lose out and finish in the bottom five.
That is the only thing positive that can be accomplished this season, but why does that make most in Leafs Nation believe it will not come to pass.
In management search news, the report earlier in the week that the Leafs were employing Neil Glasberg and PBI Sports and Entertainment to help in the search for a new team president and GM, drew some attention to the club. In the past, the hiring of Glasberg has attracted criticism and cries of a conflict of interest, and on Thursday, the Leafs released the following statement:
“We appreciate the interest in the Maple Leafs’ Head of Hockey Operations search. Neil Glasberg, President of The Coaches Agency, has been retained to assist in the search. The organization’s top priority is to respect the integrity of the process, and we will not be providing updates or confirmations on potential candidates during the process. We’re pleased by the progress to date and will provide a formal update once the search is complete.”
TSN’s Chris Johnston reported on his podcast Thursday that the Leafs and former Vancouver GM Mike Gillis have spoken, and another meeting with MLSE boss Keith Pelley is in the near future. Gillis has not been employed in the NHL since being fired by the Canucks in 2014, but has been in the mix for job a few times since. Other veteran executives like Dean Lombardi, Peter Chiarelli, Ron Francis, and Bob Gainey were also mentioned.
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