Leafs: Losing Vesey Sweepstakes Isn’t as Bad as it Sounds

The Leafs lost in the Jimmy Vesey sweepstakes, but considering their rebuild plan, failing to sign the Hobey Baker winner isn’t as bad as it sounds.

Jimmy Vesey signing with the New York Rangers isn’t the end of the world, just like Steven Stamkos re-signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning wasn’t — we have to move on. It does, however, once again prove to Toronto Maple Leafs‘ fans, management, and players that this rebuild isn’t going to take one season, or a couple of highly touted players.

Pain has come, and it’s still coming. In that respect, the Vesey situation was a tough one for Leafs fans.

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After months of speculation about his potential addition of to the lineup, the dream was dashed when the Hobey Baker winner out of Harvard put pen to paper and inked a deal with the Rangers. For many Leafs fans, this has been the second gut punch delivered, since that wonderful June night in Buffalo where Toronto finally drafted their franchise centre in Auston Matthews.

With the Leafs missing out on both Stamkos and Vesey, people have begun to wonder what the future holds. The future is bright…incredibly, incredibly bright.

While 2017 should be a transition year for yet again, it was supposed to be anyway. While Vesey and Stamkos would have been fantastic additions, this club is just in the second stage of what I like to refer to as the Leafs five layer plan for NHL success.

Step No. 1: “Scorch the Earth”:

The Leafs did this last offseason, by trading away all onerous contracts of players who don’t have a future on this team in three years. Management identified four core players who they were going to use as foundational players back in 2014, and they will be the only ones not dumped for cap space, picks and prospects.

Those players are Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, James van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri. All of them are locked up for the foreseeable future, because they are pieces whose age and potential allow for them to be focal points for the Leafs down the road.

Step No. 2: “Use your top picks to get future superstars”:

Although this is not fully complete, it is well underway. In the last three drafts, the Leafs have landed arguably the top three prospects in all of hockey in William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and Auston Matthews to add to their current core.

In addition, Toronto has made some solid picks outside of the first round in Jeremy Bracco, Dmytro Timashov, Andreas Johnson, Andrew Nielsen, Travis Dermott, Carl Grundstrom, and Connor Brown. They’ve also been able to add — via trade and free agent signings — Tobias Lindberg, Kasperi Kapanen, Zach Hyman, Nikita Soshnikov, and Nikita Zaitsev.

Step No. 3: “Leveraging that cap space and picks into legitimate NHL players”:

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While the Leafs started to do this with the trade for Frederik Anderson, the amount of picks (six in the first two rounds over the next two drafts) and salary cap space they will have next offseason is when that step can truly be completed. That cap number should be around $25 Million.

Some of the players who will potentially be available next offseason as free agents, or through trades, consist of: Brad Marchand, Kevin Shattenkirk, Tomas Tatar, Tanner Pearson, Matt Dumba, Ryan Strome, Patrik Berglund, T.J. Oshie, Ondrej Palat, and Jonathan Drouin amongst others.

These are the types of players who you can acquire off of teams with salary cap issues. That isn’t even factoring in some of the other players potentially available at the trade deadline, thanks to the upcoming expansion draft.

Step No. 4: “Making the playoffs”:

This is a contentious issue among Leafs fans. Many believe making the playoffs this season is an attainable goal and would be the best possible thing for the young players.

However, while their have been a few teams who have taken advantage of that. e.g. Florida Panthers, making the playoffs for one year and losing early was not helpful for teams like the Colorado Avalanche or Calgary Flames.

The Avalanche and Flames thought they would compete, but instead were dished a dose of reality following their surprising runs to the playoffs. In my opinion — while likely in the minority — you should bring the kids up slowly and adding another top five pick would be the best course of action for the 2016-17 Leafs.

Step No. 5: “Competing in the playoffs”:

For Leafs fans who believed the acquisition of Anderson meant they would be on Step No. 4, this offseason has hopefully changed their opinions. 2017 was never meant to be a year in which the team would compete.

In reality, this was always a three-to-four year plan, and this will be year two. Admittedly,  the roster that the Leafs will ice in October should be much more talented than their opening day roster in 2016.

Toronto will have the likes of Marner, Matthews, Nylander, Soshnikov, Zaitsev, Hyman, and Andersen added to the mix. However, this team still does not have the talent needed to succeed over the course of an 82-game season.

While next season will surely not be as boring as last, it will likely be more of the same with regard to the team’s position in the League standing. I anticipate Toronto being in the bottom five, with Vancouver, Columbus, Edmonton, and Colorado.

Leafs fans, in the long run, it is the right place to be. With elite prospects available at the top of the 2017 NHL Draft, being patient, and getting some further lottery luck would be the icing on the cake for this organization.

In my opinion, a top two pick would really help the Leafs begin to think about making the playoffs, because next year’s draft features two elite level prospects who would fit into the organization like a glove. Nolan Patrick and Timothy Liljegren – one an elite complete #1 centre in the mold of a Jonathan Toews and the other an elite top two right shot defenceman in the mold of an Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

While I’m not here to encourage Leafs fans to get on board with #Tanknation for yet another season, I am here to warn them of their expectations for this season. Moving forward, collecting more picks and potentially adding some salary for prospects or young players is more than likely the direction the Leafs will look to go for the upcoming season.

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So rejoice Leafs fans – sit back and watch the growth of young players like Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Zaitsev, and Soshnikov. But whatever you do, don’t expect this team to compete for a playoff spot, because in the long run, pairing our core with another elite young player will bear fruits sooner rather than later.