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The Toronto Maple Leafs just came off a tough western road-trip, winning only one of three games, and to make matter worse James van Riemsdyk will be out for 6-8 weeks with a broken foot.
Toronto has been slowly climbing the standings with a good run of games having won six of their last 10, but losing their top scorer is going to make any push for a playoff spot much more difficult. Van Riemsdyk leads the team with 29 points in 40 games and has the second-most goals on the team with 14.
After Toronto traded Phil Kessel to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the pressure of leading the team in scoring was passed on to van Riemsdyk. So far this season he has played well under that pressure by being on a career high pace for points. Not only was he playing well, but he also helped the other players on his line have great starts to the season.
Tyler Bozak and P.A. Parenteau have both benefited from playing alongside van Riemsdyk. Bozak is also on pace for a career-high point total with 27 points in 36 games. Parenteau’s career has been revitalized by playing with Bozak and van Riemsdyk this season with 21 points in 40 games. Parenteau is on pace for his best season since the 2012-13 NHL campaign when he finished with 43 points in 48 games.
Shawn Matthias is expected to fill van Riemsdyk’s spot, which is surprising since he has never put up more than 27 points in a season and currently has 12 points in 39 games. It will be up to Bozak and Parenteau to help Matthias thrive with this new opportunity.
What’s puzzling is that Josh Leivo isn’t going to play on that line instead of Matthias. Leivo has been called up and is expected to start on the fourth line. With 30 points in 35 games in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies this season, Leivo would seem like the better choice to fill van Riemsdyk’s spot. Although Leivo doesn’t have much NHL experience, this would be a tremendous opportunity for him to prove to coach Mike Babcock that he deserves to stay with the Maple Leafs.
Regardless of who fills his spot in the lineup, Toronto will have to find a way to keep scoring without van Riemsdyk.
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