Dobber's offseason fantasy hockey grades – Toronto Maple Leafs

For the last 18 years (12 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 19th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

Gone – Nick Foligno, Zach Hyman, Zach Bogosian, Frederik Andersen, Joe Thornton, Stefan Noesen, David Rittich, Alex Galchenyuk,

Incoming – Alex Biega, Ondrej Kase, Nick Ritchie, Kurtis Gabriel, Michael Amadio, Petr Mrazek, Brennan Menell

Impact of changes – Long-time a running mate of Auston Matthews, Zach Hyman upgraded his centre to Connor McDavid, so the Maple Leafs went out and replaced him with a younger version in Nick Ritchie. The other important chance for the Leafs was in net, bringing in Petr Mrazek to platoon with Jack Campbell, and letting Frederik Andersen's shadow leave for Carolina, so Campbell could be viewed as the main guy. Neither of Campbell or Mrazek will likely play 50 games, but Campbell won't have that same pressure of knowing he needs to win to get the net back, and should play in game one of both the regular season and (assuming they make it) the playoffs.

The big names are all back, with the depth names again rotating around them. Fantasy wise, there is not a lot that will change with the offence. Joe Thornton leaving vacates some opportunities with the man-advantage, but that will likely be soaked up by the big four up front. The second powerplay will likely only see the last 30-seconds of each man-advantage as it did last season.

Ready for Full Time –

Nick Robertson – Suffering a knee injury in his first game last season meant he started the season off on the wrong knee, and he never really got his legs back under him to thrive at the NHL level. Robertson has the ability to be a volume shooter who puts up points at even strength and with the man advantage, but in the AHL last year he looked like he needed a bit more seasoning with pro hockey. That being said, he has the kind of talent where sometimes a switch is flipped, and all-of-a-sudden he's a legit NHL threat. We saw it in his brother last year, and it wouldn't be safe to bet against Robertson making an impact this season. There are spots on the wing to be won.

Rasmus Sandin – With the departure of some depth defencemen, there is a spot for Sandin to lose on the third pairing. He is also the most dynamic offensive defenceman on the team, and doesn't have the same responsibility of logging big minutes that Morgan Rielly does. Sandin has had chances the last few seasons, and never been able to fully grasp the opportunity.

Fantasy Outlook:

The Leafs are one of the few teams with multiple threats for 100 points up front, boasting a prime Matthews and Mitch Marner. Their second line is also enviable with William Nylander and John Tavares. On the back-end, having both Rielly and Sandin that can run a top powerplay is an excellent situation to be in, a depth down the lineup that can also provide solid peripheral stat coverage.

Veteran Jason Spezza remains an underrated 40- to 50-point threat, while incumbent middle of the lineup players such as Ilya Mikheyev, Alex Kerfoot, Jake Muzzin, and Travis Dermott could have some value with secondary powerplay time, a high plus-minus rating, and possible exposure to the big guns. However, it will be mainly some top-heavy production from the team again this year.

Grade – A (last year was A+)