The success of Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul is a large reason why the Leafs are playoff bound (Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE)

With just five games remaining in the schedule and seven points ahead of the eighth place New York Rangers, the Toronto Maple Leafs appear as sure of a berth in the playoffs as a team can be.

The number crunchers at Sportsclubstats.com give them a 99 percent chance that the team won’t pack it in until some time in May at the earliest. In other words, about the same odds as former Leafs’ defenceman Tomas Kaberle foregoing a clear shot on net to pass it off.  Money in the bank, friends.

What’s bolstering this good news is the team’s month-long excellent play. The recent play of James Reimer has all but silenced his critics as to whether the Leafs should have traded for Roberto Luongo or Miikka Kiprusoff to take his job.

Forget it. He’s good at his job and has been since he’s made a full recovery from last season’s bonk in the head from Montreal’s Brian Gionta. There was no need ─ not then and certainly not now ─ for a so-called proven veteran to sweep in and steal Reimer’s thunder and the magic he’s created in leading the team’s playoff push.

His 4-1-1 record since the trade deadline, highlighted by wins against three of the best netminders (Martin Brodeur, Carey Price and Henrik Lundqvist) shows the kind of big-league ability of Reimer to not be affected by the background noise of trade rumours.

His .922 save percentage is the highest for a Leaf netminder since the Ed Belfour days ─ the last time the team made the playoffs. Still, there’s a vocal minority who don’t give Reimer the credit he deserves for this impressive run and are ready to pounce on his every miscue. The Leafs come up smelling like roses despite the fact they are out-shot nearly 75 per cent of the time with Reimer being called upon to make more stops than his counterpart at the other end of the rink.

Monday’s 2-0 shutout, Reimer’s third this season, is a particularly good case in point where he turned away 32 shots compared with aging legend Martin Brodeur’s 13 stops (the other an empty-netter).

Reimer received a richly-deserved standing ovation after some spectacular stops that preserved his shutout and a Leaf win. It may finally mark a turning point of transforming doubters into believers that this team, playoff bound, finally has its No. 1 goalie.

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The Toronto Marlies are close to locking up the Western Conference’s second seed

With just three games left in the regular season, the American Hockey League playoff picture still isn’t set in the Western Conference. The third and forth place teams are separated by two points and seeds five through seven are just one point apart. The Toronto Marlies have clinched a playoff spot but their seeding is still to be determined.

The Marlies have 91 points, and currently sit in second place, but the third seeded Grand Rapids Griffins are hot on their heels with 88 points. The Marlies are looking to create distance between themselves and the Griffins, but they are also keeping a close eye on the Rochester Americans who still have a shot at winning the North division.

The next few games will be crucial for pretty much every team, even for the 10th place Chicago Wolves who aren’t out of contention just yet. It’s difficult to say who the Marlies might match-up with in the first round because of how tight all the team’s are, but here are some of the possibilities.

Oklahoma City Barons

The Marlies and Barons faced off Tuesday night in Toronto for their final meeting of the regular season. The Marlies won the game 2-1 and had previously won their only other game 6-5, and that was back when Oklahoma City had all of the Oilers firepower in their line-up. The Barons fell from a playoff spot midway through the season after losing their best players, but have since rebounded and are looking to solidify their playoff position. The Barons still have a strong line-up despite the departure of their NHLers, and the Marlies should be aware that if the series goes long, they may see some of those players once the Oilers season concludes.

Rockford Ice Hogs

The Marlies and Ice Hogs season series is tied at one win a piece, with the Marlies victory coming right before the NHL lock-out ended. With their current line-ups, Rockford won 4-1, but Toronto would likely be the favorite if this match-up came to fruition. There’s no real danger of any NHLers being in the line-up unless the league leading Chicago Blackhawks suffer a historic flame-out.

Rochester Americans

The Marlies have one more game against division rival Rochester this season. The series up until this point heavily favors Toronto. In nine games played, the Marlies have won eight, but it’s important to not let the regular season fool you. The playoffs are an entirely different animal. Despite Toronto’s dominance of the Americans recently, it’s still an intriguing first round match-up with a potential for upset.

Houston Aeros

The season series between the Marlies and Aeros is tied at one, and this is the team who may pose the biggest threat to Toronto if they should meet in the first round. Houston’s line-up may see some key departures if the Minnesota Wild stay in the playoff picture, but they are still a formidable opponent for the Marlies. This would likely be the most even of playoff match-ups in the realm of possibility for Toronto.

The Marlies may face one of the aforementioned teams, or perhaps a different one altogether. In any case, the Marlies look to be the favorite to come out of the first round, but there’s no time to rest on your laurels and take predictions to seriously. The games still need to be played and the Marlies will have to work hard and focus if they want to repeat their playoff run from a year ago. Hopefully though, for the organization, it will have a better ending.

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Mike Zigomanis hasn’t received enough time with the big club according to Don Cherry (Marcy Di Michele)

There is no denying the impact that Mike Zigomanis has had for the Toronto Marlies since he joined them in 2010, including a 61-point plus-11 rating season last year. As well, his dedication to off-ice activities make him a fan favourite and he was recently recognized with his selection as Marlies player of the year and nomination as team finalist for the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award.

But despite this, there seems to have been a change in Zigomanis as the season wears on towards the playoffs. He’s not the presence he has been historically, whether on the ice or off, and it begs the question: What’s next?

By no means an old man—he turned 32 in January—Zigomanis is one of the senior members of the Marlies and has seen his numbers tail off significantly from last year’s high. What was an AHL career average of about a point a game has been chopped in half this season as he sits at 33 points (0 +/- rating) after 62 games. And his reduced presence on the stats sheet is reflected by a reduced visibility on the ice.

If Zigomanis is getting the same ice time as he did last season, you’d never know it sitting in the stands as his visibility is almost zero, and there are times when only the announcement of assists on a goal tells you he was on the ice for the previous play.

Likewise, where he was Dallas Eakins’ go-to-guy when it came to important defensive zone face-offs, even if it meant taking the face-off and heading back to the bench, you’re now just as likely to see one of the other forwards standing over the dot.

Whatever the problem, it has him plenty distracted.

At a recent fan event, although Zigomanis joined in with the other players to fulfill his duties and shake hands, he was clearly only attending in body. Unless engaged by someone directly, he stood disconnected from his environment, lost somewhere within himself, a total opposite to the more gregarious Marlies players like Jerry D’Amigo or Greg Scott.

Watch Zigomanis in a recent Leafs TV interview after an overtime win against the St. John’s Ice Caps and you see a guy who is saying all the right things but saying them almost robotically. The same the week before after a big win over the Rochester Americans, a game in which he scored three points and yet sounds depressed.

A year ago, Don Cherry complained about the raw deal he thought Zigomanis was getting from the Marlies, watching player after player get an opportunity with the Toronto Maple Leafs while he held the fort at the Ricoh. With the final weeks running out on his current one-year, undisclosed AHL contract, you have to wonder if it isn’t time for Zigomanis to move to another team where he might have a shot at playing with the big squad.

And the timing might be right for the Marlies, as well. Although the team will no doubt rely on Zigomanis’ skills and calming presence through the upcoming playoffs, the younger players on the team—like Scott, D’Amigo and Carter Ashton—are really starting to step forward both on the score sheet and on the bench. Similarly, there will likely be increasing pressure from upstairs to accelerate the development of the talented kids coming up through the ranks, like David Broll and Tyler Biggs.

The inevitable departure of Zigomanis, whenever it happens, will be a sad day for the Toronto Marlies, but he’s definitely going to be leaving a team that is in better shape than when he first arrived. He has been a big part of that process, so he can leave with his head high and be proud of what he accomplished in Toronto.

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Is Jussi Rynnas’ development being damaged? (Ross Bonander-THW)

MacIntyre soars while Rynnas sores.

Toronto Marlies goaltender Jussi Rynnas must be wondering what he has to do to get back to the number one position in the team’s goalie rotation as yet another injury sidelines him and gives recent acquisition Drew MacIntyre centre ice all to himself.

The heir apparent when Ben Scrivens was called up to the Maple Leafs at the start of the truncated NHL season, Rynnas (10-9-1) has struggled on and off this season. Early success, including three shutouts in his first five appearances (4-0-1), did not bear out as the season continued.

Rynnas missed a full month of ice time from mid-November with a groin pull and when he did get back between the pipes, the lanky Finn’s play could be erratic, wins coming as often as losses. He appeared at times to be struggling to corral the puck around the crease and his save percentage dropped (.908). With the start of the NHL season, however, Rynnas became the Marlies’ de facto number one.

An injury to James Reimer opened the door for Rynnas to move up to the big team on February 13, backing up former Marlies number one, Scrivens. The move may have been ill-fated for Rynnas, however, as the organization quickly went out and signed MacIntyre the same day to a professional tryout contract to carry the bulk of the Marlies goaltending with Mark Owuya maintaining the backup role.

MacIntyre’s impact (11-3-3) on the Marlies was immediate and in several games, he was the main reason the Marlies could put any wins on the board, routinely stopping 35 to 40 shots a game (SV% 0.931). By the first week in March, MacIntyre was named the CCM/AHL Player of the Week.

When Rynnas returned to the Marlies on February 27, the position of number one goalie was clearly the property of MacIntyre and Rynnas did little initially to alter that fact. Upon returning to the Marlies, he struggled to regain the solid play he had shown to start the season, much as Scrivens struggled in 2011-12 after returning from his call up.

In his first game between the pipes, Rynnas surrendered four goals on 17 shots and was yanked in favour of Owuya. Over the next couple of weeks, Rynnas began to find his groove and notched a much needed victory. But the number one spot remained elusive despite MacIntyre showing the first signs of being human with back-to-back losses.

On March 23, in only his third game back, the injury bug caught up with Rynnas again as he was forced to leave midway through a game against the Milwaukee Admirals with a lower-body injury and he has been seen recently hobbling at the Ricoh on crutches.

The news hasn’t gotten any better for Rynnas in his absence from the ice as the Marlies announced on April 1 the signing of Maple Leaf 2011 draft choice goaltender Garret Sparks to an amateur tryout contract. Playing for the Guelph Storm, Sparks led the OHL this season in minutes played (3340), wins (36) and shutouts (7).

As well, on April 2, the Toronto Maple Leafs rewarded MacIntyre for his solid play with an NHL contract for the rest of the 2012-13 season.

As the Marlies head into the playoffs, it will be interesting to see whether Rynnas can step up should MacIntyre falter when the games matter most, and reclaim his position as Marlies number one, or will he remain sidelined on the bench or in the stands?

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Mikhail Grabovski has been receiving limited ice time this season (Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports)

Mikhail Grabovski isn’t complaining.

“See my smile,” said the Toronto Maple Leafs centre after a shootout loss to the New York Rangers. “I’m not frustrated at all.”

He isn’t bothered by playing on the fourth line with noted tough guys Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren.

“It doesn’t matter who I play with,” said Grabovski, who played just 11:00 while firmly entrenched in coach Randy Carlyle’s doghouse. The game before ─ also against the Rangers ─ he played a season-low 10:39 while being benched for much of the third period.

“I just want to play. On the ice I’m happy.”

Yet here was Grabovski, asked to take part in the shootout. His attempt fell short.

When he was asked if he was surprised to be shooting, he replied, “Not really. Are you surprised?” Actually Mikhail, yes. Yes I was.

Is this relationship between Grabovski and Carlyle one that is beyond repair?  Grabvoski said he doesn’t speak much to Carlyle but rather “the second coach,” assistant Greg Cronin.

For his part, Carlyle said he was pleased with Grabovski’s game in New York and gave him more shifts in the third period after being used sparingly in the first two periods of the game.

“I thought he played fairly well,” surmised Carlyle. “I thought he was on the puck, showed more desire and more effort out there, and he was very noticeable out there.”

This has been a trying time for Grabovski, who last year signed a five-year, $27.5 million deal. The fire, passion and tenacity we have seen in his game in past years under Ron Wilson has been missing.

He was a fixture last year on the Leafs’ second line, averaging 17:36 of ice time a game last season. He was often matched up against the opposing teams’ top lines.

This year he is averaging 16:00 of ice time a game and has become more of a third line player. The Leafs need Grabovski to return to form soon as the team looks to be a tough out in the playoffs, should they get in.

Carlyle has shown to be consistent in his demand for his players to be at their best at all times; John Michael-Liles was a healthy scratch for 12 games, Jake Gardiner has been used sparingly and Matt Frattin has lost his place in the lineup.

It doesn’t matter what experience you have or how much money you make ─ Grabovski is the highest paid forward on the Leafs ─ if you don’t perform, you don’t play.

No one knows that better right now than Mikhail Grabovski.

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The Leafs may go as far as James Reimer takes them (Icon SMI)

In the days leading up to last week’s NHL trade deadline, James Reimer’s time as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ starting goaltender seemed to be numbered. Fast forward to one week later and the exact opposite is true. Through all the trade speculation, James Reimer has stepped up and put a stranglehold on his spot at the top of Toronto’s goalie heap.

Tonight at Madison Square Garden, the 25 year-old net minder will be making his sixth straight start, which will also be his 10^th in the Leafs’ last 11 games. Reimer is quickly becoming Randy Carlyle’s number one option in the crease, having arguably outplayed his partner in crime Ben Scrivens to this point in the season.

What else is true is that Reimer’s statistical output has improved a great deal over last season. Prior to the second half of this home and home series with the New York Rangers, the Morweena, Manitoba native has posted a .919 save percentage and 2.54 goals against average, significantly better than the .900/3.10 splits he managed a season ago. Part of this success is to do with coach Randy Carlyle insisting on better defensive awareness by his entire club, but much can be attributed to Reimer’s improved steadiness in goal, seeming more comfortable this year than at any point last season.

This newfound sureness held him in good stead through the week leading up to last Wednesday’s trade deadline. All the talk in the Toronto sports media surrounded GM Dave Nonis’ attempts to find a veteran goaltender to add to the roster, either to support Reimer or assume his role. None of this talk seemed to phase the young goaltender, as he continued to provide a solid presence in the net. This was evident in his strong play against the New Jersey Devils and the Rangers, both victories for the Blue and White.

Whether he’s ready for it or not, the job of starting goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs is now Reimer’s to lose. He will be counted on to lead his team through the remainder of the regular season and into a likely arduous first round playoff series against a divisional rival.

It could be argued that for a team who scores as many goals and plays as physical as the Leafs do (they are near the top of the league in both categories), they might only go as far in the playoffs as James Reimer can take them. Should he lead them deep into the playoffs, his job is more than likely safe heading into next season. However, if Reimer falters at all down the stretch or in the postseason, he may not have heard the last of last week’s trade rumors.

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Nazem Kadri has played a large role in the Maple Leafs’ playoff push (Timothy T. Ludwig-US PRESSWIRE)

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a legitimate shot at qualifying for the NHL post-season with 10 games remaining for the first time in years. Now they must pull through and give their fans and the city of Toronto what they have wanted since the team last played beyond the regular season: playoff hockey.

There are many reasons to remain positive about the Leafs’ playoff hopes. Generally a team that is six points clear of ninth with only 10 games to be played has a hard time falling out of a playoff spot. The Leafs have also received solid goaltending up to this point and once Joffrey Lupul returns, which we can only imagine to be relatively soon, they should be in good position. However, there is still one factor that should keep everyone on their toes.

Toronto recently wrapped up a rather favorable stretch of games with contests against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes. They played well enough during that span to remain in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff picture but not well enough to just about secure a spot with a tough schedule coming up.

Of the games they have remaining, the Maple Leafs will face a team that currently sits below eighth only three times, meaning 70 percent of their games will be played against playoff-battling teams.

Those games begin tonight with a meeting with the New York Rangers, followed by another against the Rangers on Wendnesday night. From there they’ll host the Montreal Canadiens ─ one of the top teams in the East ─ followed by a huge game against the New Jersey Devils. The two notable games to wrap up the season are a pair of Saturday night contests against the Canadiens and Ottawa Senators.

This home-and-home with the Rangers could very well decide the Maple Leafs’ playoff fate.

Two wins and Leafs are likely in. Two losses and who knows? A preview of Toronto’s two-game series with the Rangers soa.li/wWBypkT

— James Mirtle (@mirtle) April 8, 2013

The good news for fans is the Leafs hold a game in hand on most of the teams below them and with 21 regulation/overtime wins, the tie-breaker.

Hockey is about the heat up once again in Toronto and it’s time to get excited.

Lukas Hardonk is the Managing Editor of Maple Leafs Central. Follow him on Twitter (@LukasHardonk) or email him at lukas.hardonk@gmail.com.

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The Maple Leafs need Joffrey Lupul to return ASAP if they plan on going far (John E. Sokolowski-US PRESSWIRE)

With the final ten NHL regular season games in sight, the Toronto Maple Leafs are in a position many people would not have placed them at the start of this shortened campaign. Comfortably in a playoff spot, the Leafs can now focus on locking down as many of the final 20 points available to them as possible.

While the halved year could be a factor in the Leafs’ success thus far, they have appeared to be a tougher, smarter and more cohesive group than those of the past seven seasons. Factor in adequate yet reliable goaltending from two backstops in addition to a wealth of scoring and it becomes clear their success has been well-earned.

As great as the Maple Leafs have looked, there’s always a chance of failure. Serious injuries to one or two important players on top of the oft-injured Joffrey Lupul could easily send a team that free-fell in the home stretch of a season past into familiar territory. Under coach Randy Carlyle, however, the chances of this happening seem very slim.

Carlyle has conditioned this Leaf team into a very difficult team to play against and as such his name must be in consideration for the Jack Adams award, given to the coach deemed most responsible for his team’s success.

Under a tough defensive system, the Leafs look poised to play out their last ten games of the season responsibly and ride their early season success into the post season. That’s something that hasn’t happened since a guy named Mats.

With a number of hardened NHL veterans like Jaromir Jagr, Jarome Iginla and Jason Pominville moving for generally acceptable prices at the trade deadline, Toronto general manager Dave Nonis was hesitant to make any big moves and instead opted to put faith in his current club.

While a veteran goalie to act as a mentor for James Reimer remained elusive, Nonis did add depth at defense with shut-down man Ryan O’Byrne in exchange for a late round draft pick. With many serviceable options at defense, the Leafs potentially have the stuff not only to make it past these last ten games, but perhaps deep into the playoffs.

The first of these last ten games come against the New York Rangers, a team that sits closely behind the Leafs in the standings. Should they win both games against the Rangers, the Leafs would sink a trailing team further down and push themselves closer to the coveted playoffs. If they are to lose both games to New York, however, Toronto might have a problem on its hands. Only time will tell if Nonis’ faith in the depth of his club is well placed.

The Maple Leafs haven’t been this close to the playoffs in their seven-season drought and in a year where there are half the usual games, it seems like they just can’t afford to make it eight.

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Jay McClement has been a very pleasant surprise for the Maple Leafs (Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports)

He wasn’t a big-name free agent pick up but Jay McClement will go down as one of the best moves Brian Burke made as general manager.

McClement agreed to a two-year, $3 million deal with the Leafs this off-season and his effort to solidify the club’s bottom-six has been huge. But McClement’s biggest strength has been on the penalty kill, a unit that under Ron Wilson was among the NHL’s worse.

This season, thanks in part to better goaltending and largely to McClement, the Leafs’ penalty killing has suddenly become one of the league’s best.

The Toronto penalty kill was perfect in all five chances on Saturday evening in New Jerse allowing exactly one shot against. They killed off a 64-second five-on-three disadvantage, without allowing a shot. The Leafs penalty kill is now at 86.7 percent for the season (fourth in the NHL) and 92 percent over the past 27 games (killing 81 of 88 opportunities over that stretch).

McClement deserves a lot of credit for that as a guy who takes key faceoffs. Against the Devils was on the ice 4:19 while his team was shorthanded.

“When we started it was a little rough just because none of us had played together,” McClement said. “That’s probably the biggest part is everyone knowing what the other guy’s going to do in reads and obviously our goaltending (Reimer) again tonight, made some huge saves.”

Last year in Colorado, McClement averaged the third most shorthanded ice time in the NHL and won more than 50 percent of his faceoffs. This year he leads the Maple Leafs in shorthanded ice time per game (3:32).

Randy Carlyle has a player he can rely on in Jay McClement (John E. Sokolowski-US PRESSWIRE)

He does what the coaches call the “little things” which turn out to be huge for a team that last year was 29th in penalty killing.

“I’ve done it a lot over my career so experience and learning the hard way,” McClement said earlier this year. “Getting beat different ways, all kinds of different ways making mistakes; trying to learn from those. I’ve definitely done that over my career.”

“The skill that he has is he outworks people,” Carlyle said a few weeks ago. “People always talk about skill and it is a skill to be able to go out and show that dogged work ethic that he demonstrates day in, day out. That’s what really separates him in a lot of situations.”

McClement knows plenty of tricks to the trade. For example, “not always extending your stick the entire way, having a little bit more to give you so you can bait them a little bit and then he tries to pass it maybe slide it out a little the last couple of inches and try to get a piece of it.”

That knowledge and work ethic have been huge for the Maple Leafs. Remember the last six seasons, Toronto’s penalty kill had not finished better than 27th.

It’s why the Leafs’ penalty kill is among the NHL’s best and why Toronto looks to be on its way to making the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

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Re-signing Tyler Bozak isn’t the correct option for the Maple Leafs (Image: Greg Thompson)

“If the player wants to be here and we want him, my experience has been that generally we find a way to make it happen.”

- GM Dave Nonis, April 3, in regards to a possible Tyler Bozak extension.

It’s worrisome if you believe Bozak, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer, is the Toronto Maple Leafs’ weakest link among their top-nine centres. The statistics support that claim, as Bozak seems to excel at faceoffs and not much else. His defensive play is suspect and he’s generally a passenger on the top line considering the amount of ice time he receives. He leads all Maple Leafs in time on ice per game with 20:09 and he’s third in power play minutes among forwards with 3:06 per game.

Still, Randy Carlyle has cemented Bozak on the top line and he remains one of the only players who has yet to shift lines. It’s a strange decision on Carlyle’s part as he generally seems to sit or demote players based on snap judgments. Mikhail Grabovski ranks third on the Maple Leafs in quality of competition faced and he continues to play tough minutes with only 36.4 percent of his faceoffs in the offensive end. Despite this, Grabovski remains in Carlyle’s doghouse and has been the subject of criticism from his coach.

One has to wonder if Grabovski, who signed a five-year contract extension last season, still has a future with the Maple Leafs. If Bozak is indeed re-signed that would leave the Maple Leafs with an identical depth chart down the middle.

It’s unlikely Nonis believes his centres are good enough to compete among the elite in the NHL so one has to assume changes are on the horizon in that area. Nazem Kadri will certainly be re-signed as restricted free agent this summer and the same goes for Joe Colborne, who’s scoring at a near point-per-game pace in the second half of the Toronto Marlies’ season. Colborne is 23 years old and could be ready for a promotion to the big club come training camp next season.

What happens then? Jay McClement is a lock on the team and should slot in as the fourth line centre. That would leave Bozak, Grabovski, Kadri and Colborne fighting for three centre spots. Even if Colborne shifts to the wing, which he may have to do in order to eventually crack the roster, the Maple Leafs’ centre position is still lacking on the top line.

It should be clarified that Bozak is not a bad player. In fact, he’s probably an above average third line centre and his faceoff abilities are certainly useful in certain situations. But if Toronto fails to upgrade their first line centre position externally, doing so internally should at least be considered.

If Bozak walks as a free agent, that would free up the first line centre position for Kadri or Grabovski. Both are probably better-suited as second line centres but it’s still an upgrade over Bozak. That would also allow Colborne to slot in as the third line centre if he has an impressive training camp.

Alternatively, if the Maple Leafs recognize Bozak as a third line centre and pay him accordingly, that’s also an option. That seems unlikely, however, as Carlyle currently plays him more than Kadri and Grabovski. So if that were to happen it would likely mean the end of Grabovski in Toronto, as Kadri is a lock and Nonis would look to upgrade at centre in the off-season.

There simply wouldn’t be any room for Grabovski on the depth chart unless Carlyle used him properly as a second line centre, which seems unlikely at this point.

To further elaborate on that point, re-signing Bozak as a third line centre would require an external acquisition, preferably via trade as the free agent market is rather bare at centre, with Derek Roy being the only decent option available.

The Maple Leafs have limited options to upgrade at centre should they choose to re-sign Bozak. Kadri and Grabovski are better options as top-six centres but with Carlyle’s inexplicable preference of Bozak as the top line centre it seems unlikely either of them get a promotion unless Toronto decide to hire a new coach, which is unlikely.

With that in mind, the best option for the Maple Leafs may be to let Bozak walk and either trade for a first line centre or roll Kadri-Grabovski-Colborne as the top-nine centres next season, which seems the unlikely option.

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