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Leafs: Toronto Marlies Season End Review and Grading Each Position

By David Morassutti

Apr 6, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander (39) carries the puck past Columbus Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson (34) at the Air Canada Centre. Columbus defeated Toronto 5-1. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 6, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander (39) carries the puck past Columbus Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson (34) at the Air Canada Centre. Columbus defeated Toronto 5-1. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 2, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Antoine Bibeau (30) during the pre game warm up against the St. Louis Blues at the Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Goaltending

This was the most inconsistent position for the Marlies for various reasons. Antoine Bibeau played the bulk of the season with 40 games with Garret Sparks was behind him with 21. The Marlies at one point had eight goalies play at least one game this season.

One of those was Jonathan Bernier, when he went down for a conditioning stint. Another goalie the Marlies brought in on an emergency basis was former NHLer Ray Emery.

Sparks on paper had the best stats, but with a call up to the Leafs and an injury that forced him to miss time, he regularly rotated starts with Bibeau, as the organization wanted both goalies to battle for the starter’s job. Bibeau would get the majority of the starts in the Calder Cup playoffs, but his inconsistent play forced Keefe to rotate him with Sparks.

In the playoffs Bibeau had a 6-5 record with a 2.73 GAA and a .900 save percentage, while Sparks had a 2-2 record with a respective stats of 2.30 and .915. This was part of the reason why the Marlies struggled in the conference finals and is an area of concern for the Leafs.

Looking at the top goalies in the Calder Cup playoffs, they had a GAA below 2.00 and their save percentages were greater than .930. The Leafs need to think about their future in goal with Sparks and Bibeau moving forward.

Judging by how Matt Murray and Martin Jones are playing in the playoffs after significant time in the AHL, Sparks and Bibeau will be on a short leash moving forward. While there is still time for them to develop (they are not 23-years old yet), the Leafs should still look into drafting a goalie who can eventually develop like James Reimer did.

This is how many contending teams are doing and the Leafs will have to do the same if they want to compete for a long time.

Final Grade:  B- (which might be too generous)

Players expected to move on to the NHL: Sparks as a backup 

Considerable mentions: Bibeau 

Players to watch moving forward: Kasimir Kaskisuo

Next: The Leafs win the lottery - Now what?

Overall season grade for the Marlies: A-

While the Marlies did not win the Calder Cup, they definitely exceeded expectations and provided optimism towards the rebuild. The potential that some of these players showed at both the AHL and NHL level proves the Leafs are on the right path.

Next season the Marlies will hope to be right back in contention. It will be tough to expect a repeat of this past campaign, but at least this group of young players now have valuable experience which hopefully can carry them further.

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