Goonface2k14
Registered User
Now that the Leafs seem to be as strong as they've been since the Mats Sundin era, I thought it would be nice to look back at prior rosters, and see how they've evolved into the team we see today. Please note that the groups below don't represent final rosters for each year, they're the main players (I eliminated guys with very few games or points) from each season. That's why you see, for example, Stajan and Phaneuf on the same team, even though they never played together.
2009
FORWARDS
Jason Blake
Alexei Ponikarovsky
Matt Stajan
Mikhail Grabovski
Nik Antropov
Niklas Hagman
Dominic Moore
Nikolai Kulemin
Lee Stempniak
John Mitchell
Jamal Mayers
Boyd Devereaux
Jeremy Williams
DEFENSEMEN
Pavel Kubina
Tomas Kaberle
Ian White
Jeff Finger
Luke Schenn
Anton Stralman
Mike Van Ryn
Jonas Frogren
GOALIES
Vesa Toskala
Martin Gerber
Curtis Joseph
2010
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel
Matt Stajan
Alexei Ponikarovsky
Nikolai Kulemin
Mikhail Grabovski
Niklas Hagman
Lee Stempniak
Tyler Bozak
Jason Blake
John Mitchell
Viktor Stalberg
Jamal Mayers
Christian Hanson
Colton Orr
Fredrik Sjostrom
DEFENSEMEN
Tomas Kaberle
Francois Beauchemin
Ian White
Luke Schenn
Carl Gunnarsson
Jeff Finger
Dion Phaneuf
Garnet Exelby
Mike Komisarek
GOALIES
Jonas Gustavsson
Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Vesa Toskala
2011
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel
Clarke MacArthur
Mikhail Grabovski
Nikolai Kulemin
Kris Versteeg
Tyler Bozak
Colby Armstrong
Tim Brent
Joffrey Lupul
Joey Crabb
Darryl Boyce
Nazem Kadri
Mike Brown
John Mitchell
Luca Caputi
DEFENSEMEN
Tomas Kaberle
Dion Phaneuf
Luke Schenn
Carl Gunnarsson
Francois Beauchemin
Mike Komisarek
Brett Lebda
Keith Aulie
GOALIES
James Reimer
Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Jonas Gustavsson
2012
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel
Joffrey Lupul
Mikhail Grabovski
Tyler Bozak
Clarke MacArthur
Tim Connolly
Nikolai Kulemin
Joey Crabb
Matthew Lombardi
Matt Frattin
David Steckel
Mike Brown
Colby Armstrong
Colton Orr
DEFENSEMEN
Dion Phaneuf
Jake Gardiner
John-Michael Liles
Luke Schenn
Cody Franson
Carl Gunnarsson
Mike Komisarek
Keith Aulie
GOALIES
Jonas Gustavsson
James Reimer
Ben Scrivens
2013
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel
Nazem Kadri
James van Riemsdyk
Tyler Bozak
Nikolai Kulemin
Clarke MacArthur
Joffrey Lupul
Jay McClement
Mikhail Grabovski
Matt Frattin
Leo Komarov
Colton Orr
Mike Brown
DEFENSEMEN
Cody Franson
Dion Phaneuf
Carl Gunnarsson
John-Michael Liles
Mark Fraser
Mike Kostka
Jake Gardiner
GOALIES
James Reimer
Ben Scrivens
2014
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel
Joffrey Lupul
Nazem Kadri
Mason Raymond
James van Riemsdyk
Dave Bolland
Tyler Bozak
Nikolai Kulemin
Josh Leivo
Jay McClement
Colton Orr
David Clarkson
DEFENSEMEN
Cody Franson
Dion Phaneuf
Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner
Paul Ranger
Carl Gunnarsson
Mark Fraser
GOALIES
Jonathan Bernier
James Reimer
2009 - Essentially, the team prior to the Brian Burke regime. A mess created by JFJ and prior Leaf management, crippled by no-trade clauses and aging veterans. They refused to ever rebuild and continued to go after band-aid solutions via free agency and trades that ultimately wouldn’t help them move forward as an organization. So, there were no big name assets for Burke when he came in, and the only pieces that would generate any kind of legitimate mild trade interest at that time were Ponikarovsky, Antropov, Kulemin, Kaberle White, Stajan and Schenn. Not very much to work with at all. They had an unproven Tlusty in the system, and they just got rid of future superstar Alex Steen and Carlo Coliacovo for Lee Stempniak. Most fans likely expected this team to remain bad for very long.
2010 – Burke begins to mold the franchise. He starts out with a stinker of a signing with Komisarek, who turned out, in hindsight, to be a colossal failure. Looking back at it now, the signing was his biggest mistake, and only a few other mistakes were made after that. Since this move, Burke executed some stellar moves to bring the team to where its at today. After the Komisarek blunder, Burke shocks the entire fan base at its core, and moves two 1st rounders and a 2nd rounder, for one Phillip Joseph Kessel. Kessel, still a very young player, was just a few years removed from being considered one of the leagues’ next mega-stars, in the same breath as Crosby and Tavares. His stock had fallen since then, but he still showed he could score at a tremendous pace in Boston. Burke decided he’d go after the proven player, instead of staying put, continuing to tank and pick high, like the Oilers were doing. A risk indeed, but a calculated one at that. I’m certain Burke looked at the upcoming drafts, and knew that Hall and Seguin were the two potential franchise players that he may have had a shot at, had he not made the trade. He perhaps even went as far as thinking that if he acquired Kessel, the Leafs would do better and not finish so low as second last (even though Phil was out until Nov with offseason shoulder surgery), and hoped that the lottery would keep Boston out of the top two picks in the following year. Didn’t happen, and Boston got Seguin, but the trade should be evaluated as Kessel for picks, which had the potential to be high, rather than Kessel-for-Seguin. Aside from Kessel, the team has no real star power, and remains amongst the basement dwellers. Burke tries to get creative with the Bozak and Gustavsson acquisitions, obtaining what he referred to as extra draft picks. Bozak becomes a long term player, Gustavsson, with his heart issues, never really finds his groove and doesn’t play up to the potential everyone thought he had. Burke also acquires former Duck Beauchemin, and eventually makes a big splash with the Phaneuf trade, giving up spare parts for a guy who, although does come with deficiencies, brings a lot of offense and physical play from the blue line.
2011 – Some depth added with MacArthur, Versteeg, Kaberle moved for some nice return, and the emergence of James Reimer. A step in the right direction, but still, they’re very far away from being taken seriously. They creep up in the standings with a much more stable core team, but remain out of the playoffs. Top-six caliber depth still lacking. Grabovski is arguably their best player, forming a top unit with Kulemin and MacArthur. Kulemin emerges as a 30-goal scorer. Burke makes a huge splash in acquiring Gardiner and Lupul for Beauchemin. In hindsight, this trade turns out to be one of the most important deals to this franchise, as Lupul takes his play to a whole new level and arguably goes from being a risky salary acquisition to the team’s best player. This was a big season for the franchise in becoming who they are today.
2012 – Things start off very promising, with Lupul putting up numbers at a point-per-game pace, and showing great chemistry with Phil Kessel, who records a career high 37 goals and 82 points. The Leafs are in first place at the end of October. Grabovski and MacArthur still provide respectable secondary scoring, but Kulemin drops off and Tim Connolly does not pan out as hoped. Overall, they still lack enough firepower and defensive stability to be taken seriously, and the season end miserably, with the team losing 10 of their last 11 games. Wilson gets fired, and waffles are thrown. No playoffs yet again, but the overall picture does seem a tad bit brighter with the emergence of Joffrey Lupul.
2013 – Burke makes another tremendous trade, acquiring former second overall pick James van Riemsdyk for the up-and-down performing Luke Schenn. Untapped potential for a player who was perhaps overrated to start his career. The secondary scoring they desperately needed looks like it finally has arrived. However, once the lockout ends, Burke is fired. Unbelievable. For all that he did to turn things around, his attitude doesn’t mesh with Leafs’ executives, and they hand the GM title over to his incumbent, Dave Nonis. The timing couldn’t have been worse. With the emergence of Nazem Kadri and the play of JVR, the Leafs catapult into 5th spot in the conference, and they make the playoffs for the first time in seven long years. Also helping the cause is the elimination of Mike Komisarek, more ice time for Cody Franson, and the acquisition of strong, stay-at-home defender Mark Fraser. The Leafs finally are a respectable franchise, with two solid scoring lines, and no major holes on defense. Goaltending from James Reimer rebounds after an injury plagued season, and proves strong enough to hold the teams in many games. They end on a horrific note, which I won’t go into, but overall big picture-wise, once again, things are brighter.
2014 – Nonis realizes the need for leadership and goaltending depth, and he acquires Bolland, Clarkson and makes a trade for Bernier. He also acquires a speedy forward in Mason Raymond (who also has some deep Stanley Cup playoff experience). The Leafs have gone from rebuilding to tweaking to try and obtain the final pieces to become a truly elite team. Out go Grabovski, MacArthur, and Frattin. All guys who contributed well, at times, but seemed to lack that leadership that you need when push comes to shove. After the first 10, the Leafs are a solid 7-3. The threat of patterns from prior years of looking solid only to fall off the cliff still exist. It happened over the final month of 2012, and it happened in the final few minutes in the playoffs against Boston. Something about this team taking its foot off the gas pedal at the worst possible time. The hope is leaders like Bolland and Clarkson can help lead this team to have a killer instinct. Only time will tell, but I have faith in these guys.
Looking forward to Clarkson’s debut tonight.
GLG.
2009
FORWARDS
Jason Blake
Alexei Ponikarovsky
Matt Stajan
Mikhail Grabovski
Nik Antropov
Niklas Hagman
Dominic Moore
Nikolai Kulemin
Lee Stempniak
John Mitchell
Jamal Mayers
Boyd Devereaux
Jeremy Williams
DEFENSEMEN
Pavel Kubina
Tomas Kaberle
Ian White
Jeff Finger
Luke Schenn
Anton Stralman
Mike Van Ryn
Jonas Frogren
GOALIES
Vesa Toskala
Martin Gerber
Curtis Joseph
2010
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel
Matt Stajan
Alexei Ponikarovsky
Nikolai Kulemin
Mikhail Grabovski
Niklas Hagman
Lee Stempniak
Tyler Bozak
Jason Blake
John Mitchell
Viktor Stalberg
Jamal Mayers
Christian Hanson
Colton Orr
Fredrik Sjostrom
DEFENSEMEN
Tomas Kaberle
Francois Beauchemin
Ian White
Luke Schenn
Carl Gunnarsson
Jeff Finger
Dion Phaneuf
Garnet Exelby
Mike Komisarek
GOALIES
Jonas Gustavsson
Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Vesa Toskala
2011
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel
Clarke MacArthur
Mikhail Grabovski
Nikolai Kulemin
Kris Versteeg
Tyler Bozak
Colby Armstrong
Tim Brent
Joffrey Lupul
Joey Crabb
Darryl Boyce
Nazem Kadri
Mike Brown
John Mitchell
Luca Caputi
DEFENSEMEN
Tomas Kaberle
Dion Phaneuf
Luke Schenn
Carl Gunnarsson
Francois Beauchemin
Mike Komisarek
Brett Lebda
Keith Aulie
GOALIES
James Reimer
Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Jonas Gustavsson
2012
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel
Joffrey Lupul
Mikhail Grabovski
Tyler Bozak
Clarke MacArthur
Tim Connolly
Nikolai Kulemin
Joey Crabb
Matthew Lombardi
Matt Frattin
David Steckel
Mike Brown
Colby Armstrong
Colton Orr
DEFENSEMEN
Dion Phaneuf
Jake Gardiner
John-Michael Liles
Luke Schenn
Cody Franson
Carl Gunnarsson
Mike Komisarek
Keith Aulie
GOALIES
Jonas Gustavsson
James Reimer
Ben Scrivens
2013
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel
Nazem Kadri
James van Riemsdyk
Tyler Bozak
Nikolai Kulemin
Clarke MacArthur
Joffrey Lupul
Jay McClement
Mikhail Grabovski
Matt Frattin
Leo Komarov
Colton Orr
Mike Brown
DEFENSEMEN
Cody Franson
Dion Phaneuf
Carl Gunnarsson
John-Michael Liles
Mark Fraser
Mike Kostka
Jake Gardiner
GOALIES
James Reimer
Ben Scrivens
2014
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel
Joffrey Lupul
Nazem Kadri
Mason Raymond
James van Riemsdyk
Dave Bolland
Tyler Bozak
Nikolai Kulemin
Josh Leivo
Jay McClement
Colton Orr
David Clarkson
DEFENSEMEN
Cody Franson
Dion Phaneuf
Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner
Paul Ranger
Carl Gunnarsson
Mark Fraser
GOALIES
Jonathan Bernier
James Reimer
2009 - Essentially, the team prior to the Brian Burke regime. A mess created by JFJ and prior Leaf management, crippled by no-trade clauses and aging veterans. They refused to ever rebuild and continued to go after band-aid solutions via free agency and trades that ultimately wouldn’t help them move forward as an organization. So, there were no big name assets for Burke when he came in, and the only pieces that would generate any kind of legitimate mild trade interest at that time were Ponikarovsky, Antropov, Kulemin, Kaberle White, Stajan and Schenn. Not very much to work with at all. They had an unproven Tlusty in the system, and they just got rid of future superstar Alex Steen and Carlo Coliacovo for Lee Stempniak. Most fans likely expected this team to remain bad for very long.
2010 – Burke begins to mold the franchise. He starts out with a stinker of a signing with Komisarek, who turned out, in hindsight, to be a colossal failure. Looking back at it now, the signing was his biggest mistake, and only a few other mistakes were made after that. Since this move, Burke executed some stellar moves to bring the team to where its at today. After the Komisarek blunder, Burke shocks the entire fan base at its core, and moves two 1st rounders and a 2nd rounder, for one Phillip Joseph Kessel. Kessel, still a very young player, was just a few years removed from being considered one of the leagues’ next mega-stars, in the same breath as Crosby and Tavares. His stock had fallen since then, but he still showed he could score at a tremendous pace in Boston. Burke decided he’d go after the proven player, instead of staying put, continuing to tank and pick high, like the Oilers were doing. A risk indeed, but a calculated one at that. I’m certain Burke looked at the upcoming drafts, and knew that Hall and Seguin were the two potential franchise players that he may have had a shot at, had he not made the trade. He perhaps even went as far as thinking that if he acquired Kessel, the Leafs would do better and not finish so low as second last (even though Phil was out until Nov with offseason shoulder surgery), and hoped that the lottery would keep Boston out of the top two picks in the following year. Didn’t happen, and Boston got Seguin, but the trade should be evaluated as Kessel for picks, which had the potential to be high, rather than Kessel-for-Seguin. Aside from Kessel, the team has no real star power, and remains amongst the basement dwellers. Burke tries to get creative with the Bozak and Gustavsson acquisitions, obtaining what he referred to as extra draft picks. Bozak becomes a long term player, Gustavsson, with his heart issues, never really finds his groove and doesn’t play up to the potential everyone thought he had. Burke also acquires former Duck Beauchemin, and eventually makes a big splash with the Phaneuf trade, giving up spare parts for a guy who, although does come with deficiencies, brings a lot of offense and physical play from the blue line.
2011 – Some depth added with MacArthur, Versteeg, Kaberle moved for some nice return, and the emergence of James Reimer. A step in the right direction, but still, they’re very far away from being taken seriously. They creep up in the standings with a much more stable core team, but remain out of the playoffs. Top-six caliber depth still lacking. Grabovski is arguably their best player, forming a top unit with Kulemin and MacArthur. Kulemin emerges as a 30-goal scorer. Burke makes a huge splash in acquiring Gardiner and Lupul for Beauchemin. In hindsight, this trade turns out to be one of the most important deals to this franchise, as Lupul takes his play to a whole new level and arguably goes from being a risky salary acquisition to the team’s best player. This was a big season for the franchise in becoming who they are today.
2012 – Things start off very promising, with Lupul putting up numbers at a point-per-game pace, and showing great chemistry with Phil Kessel, who records a career high 37 goals and 82 points. The Leafs are in first place at the end of October. Grabovski and MacArthur still provide respectable secondary scoring, but Kulemin drops off and Tim Connolly does not pan out as hoped. Overall, they still lack enough firepower and defensive stability to be taken seriously, and the season end miserably, with the team losing 10 of their last 11 games. Wilson gets fired, and waffles are thrown. No playoffs yet again, but the overall picture does seem a tad bit brighter with the emergence of Joffrey Lupul.
2013 – Burke makes another tremendous trade, acquiring former second overall pick James van Riemsdyk for the up-and-down performing Luke Schenn. Untapped potential for a player who was perhaps overrated to start his career. The secondary scoring they desperately needed looks like it finally has arrived. However, once the lockout ends, Burke is fired. Unbelievable. For all that he did to turn things around, his attitude doesn’t mesh with Leafs’ executives, and they hand the GM title over to his incumbent, Dave Nonis. The timing couldn’t have been worse. With the emergence of Nazem Kadri and the play of JVR, the Leafs catapult into 5th spot in the conference, and they make the playoffs for the first time in seven long years. Also helping the cause is the elimination of Mike Komisarek, more ice time for Cody Franson, and the acquisition of strong, stay-at-home defender Mark Fraser. The Leafs finally are a respectable franchise, with two solid scoring lines, and no major holes on defense. Goaltending from James Reimer rebounds after an injury plagued season, and proves strong enough to hold the teams in many games. They end on a horrific note, which I won’t go into, but overall big picture-wise, once again, things are brighter.
2014 – Nonis realizes the need for leadership and goaltending depth, and he acquires Bolland, Clarkson and makes a trade for Bernier. He also acquires a speedy forward in Mason Raymond (who also has some deep Stanley Cup playoff experience). The Leafs have gone from rebuilding to tweaking to try and obtain the final pieces to become a truly elite team. Out go Grabovski, MacArthur, and Frattin. All guys who contributed well, at times, but seemed to lack that leadership that you need when push comes to shove. After the first 10, the Leafs are a solid 7-3. The threat of patterns from prior years of looking solid only to fall off the cliff still exist. It happened over the final month of 2012, and it happened in the final few minutes in the playoffs against Boston. Something about this team taking its foot off the gas pedal at the worst possible time. The hope is leaders like Bolland and Clarkson can help lead this team to have a killer instinct. Only time will tell, but I have faith in these guys.
Looking forward to Clarkson’s debut tonight.
GLG.
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. This Leafs team is a million times better than they were in 2009. 
