The Daily Faceoff Show: David Alter discusses Kyle Dubas’ press conference
Toronto Maple Leafs general manager gave his mid-season update on Sunday, so David Alter of The Leafs Nation stopped by the Daily Faceoff Show to give a rundown of what happened…
Seravalli: “Kyle Dubas held his mid-season media availability on Sunday afternoon. What’s your key takeaway? The one quote stood out to me was that Dubas felt he might only have in the chamber to use at the trade deadline. If you were looking at this team, what has to be the clear No. 1 objective?”
Alter: “The No. 1 thing that stood out to me is that they have six weeks and I don’t really think that they’re sure of what exactly they’re going to do.
If you look at last year, they had injuries that allowed for them to go through the LTIR and have more cap space and build up that way. Now everyone with the exception of Jake Muzzin is completely healthy, so even though it looks like the No. 1 priority for the Leafs should be depth on defense, they don’t know what’s going to happen in the next six weeks and how much cap space they’re going to have.
They’re going to have to wait and see how things play out with the roster to decide what their No. 1 priority is.”
Gregor: “It’s gotta be defense, right? They can score with anybody. I just look at their blueline and, in the playoffs, size and skill matters on the backend. They’ve got to get bigger on the backend, do they not?”
Alter: “In the last couple of years, they didn’t have Jake Muzzin for a portion of the playoffs, that’s where they were the most exposed. Getting another big body, a physical type who can slot into the top-four but also play the five-six is probably their top priority right now.
They like what they’ve seen from Timothy Liljegren, who’s stepped up this year, but there have been situations where he’s looked exposed and has shown some of the elements of a rookie defender.
I think there’s a priority to add to the defense, but if something happens between now and the trade deadline where there’s more cap space available all of a sudden, maybe there isn’t just that some bullet in the chamber and they can add some depth and do something creative.
Seravalli: “Jack Campbell had his first taste of an All-Star weekend but he sort of went into it with some eyebrows raised in terms of his play in the last handful of games.
On a scale of 1-10, what’s your level of concern for Jack Campbell, given the workload and the fact he’s never played this many games in a season, and what’s going to be requested of him down the stretch.”
Alter: “From a goaltending level of concern, I think it would be a six right now. It might have been higher had Campbell not have had that incredible month of November that he had. He’s really been leaned on a lot more than you’d probably have expected.
The question isn’t how he plays between now and then but how he’s going to perform in the playoffs, if he’s the No. 1 guy going in. That’s really been the question. When you’ve got a guy who doesn’t have that much experience and a platoon backup, the level of concern is always going to be there because he doesn’t have the track record.
Playing more games than he’s been expected to, getting a bit of a reduced workload between now and the end of the season with Petr Mrazek expected to get more games, I think, brings that concern level down.”