Maple Leafs Quick Hits: Ferguson, Huge Mess & Jarnkrok

Will Ferguson be offered an AHL contract out of training camp? If so, with Joseph Woll’s injury rehab, that might make him suddenly jump into the fourth place position in the organization’s depth chart.

As The Hockey Writers commenter gcmgome noted, “Ferguson is a technically-sound goaltender (impressively so), who I think will turn a few heads this season. He just needs game reps, Covid having curtailed the earlier years of his pro career.”

gcmgome noted that, “as of what we know today, Ferguson looks like found money.” Given that he’s almost a hometown goalie, I happily agree.

Quick Hit Two: So You Know My Belief, the Maple Leafs Are Far From a Mess

In the conversation section of a recent post, one commenter pointed a finger at Maple Leafs’ writers like myself when he accused us with this question: “When was the last time a writer penned a seriously critical article that said the Leafs are soft, too small, atrociously over-paid the core handcuffing cap mgt, left the draft cupboard bare, failed to develop prospects into NHLers? NEVER! ….all 3 (I think he means Brendan Shanahan, Kyle Dubas, and Sheldon Keefe) should be fired, long ago.”

I read such comments every day I write a post. And, to answer the question, it’s tough to write something you don’t believe. I just don’t believe the Maple Leafs are a mess. In fact, they are far from it.

My regular co-writer Stan Smith made this note to the commenter. “This team has more points since Dubas took over as the GM than any other GM has had in a four-year stretch let alone four from the start of his tenure. Dubas is already 3rd for wins by a Leafs GM since the NHL expanded in 1967. He is first in winning %. And despite not winning a single playoff round he is 5th in postseason wins by a Leafs’ GM with 11.”

Stan went on to note that Maple Leafs’ head coach Sheldon Keefe “owns the record for the best record for a Leafs’ coach in his first three seasons on the job. Shanahan hired them both. As fans, we aren’t used to that. Let’s fire them all so we can go back to not even worrying about playoffs and get started on our golf games earlier.”

Quick Hit Three: Now What with Calle Jarnkrok?

What does anyone make of Calle Jarnkrok’s two identical goals in the second game of the team’s doubleheader? It was obvious that linemate Auston Matthews liked what he saw. The following tweet shows it all.

It would be easy to question whether this sort of on-ice play is a one-off or simply lucky. But we’re talking about an NHL veteran of almost 600 regular-season games under his belt. Fine when you ask about Denis Malgin or even Adam Gaudette, and that’s no derision to their skills. But Jarnkrok isn’t a new kid on the block – just a new kid on the Maple Leafs’ block. I expect more of this from him.

So, might this mean that we could see Marner moved with John Tavares’ line? At least there’s potential that Jarnkrok makes such a move possible. Would the other beneficiary of this matchup be Adam Gaudette? It would seem that the coaching staff sees him as a top-six player.

So far, Jarnkrok looks great in a blue and white uniform.