2020 NHL Season: Grading the Toronto Maple Leafs’ centers at season pause

With the 2020 NHL season caught in the midst of an unprecedented pause, we take the opportunity to grade the Toronto Maple Leafs’ campaign thus far. Today’s topic: Evaluating the team’s centers.

Welcome to the first instalment of a seven-part series on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2019-20 season. Caught in the midst of the hockey world’s unprecedented pause, now is the time to reflect on what may very well go down as one of the more dynamic-altering campaigns — for better or for worse — in club history.

Largely hyped as a potential season for the books, Toronto’s current run has been defined by a quality of inconstancy. The team has established itself as the NHL’s foremost Jekyll and Hyde organization, with the line between pretender and contender for Lord Stanley’s trophy growing increasingly thin throughout the progression of games.

As such, questions continue to be raised about the state of the franchise. Are the Maple Leafs actually in a serious position to compete for glory? Will the present campaign ultimately become yet another disappointment? And who bears responsibility for the club’s shortcomings?

Over the course of this series, we shall unpack some of the aforementioned questions by grading many facets of the organization. For the purpose of conducting a thorough review, we will only report on players who have skated in more than 10 games in a Maple Leafs uniform across the 2019-20 season. Consequently, the likes of Pontus Aberg, Adam Brooks, Kevin Gravel, Kasimir Kaskisuo, Egor Korshkov, Denis Malgin, Mason Marchment and Calle Rosen shall be excluded from consideration.

With that, let’s move on to today’s topic: Evaluating the team’s centers.

Frederik Gauthier

Games Played: 61
Goals: 7
Assists: 5
Points: 12

The 2019-20 campaign treated Maple Leafs fans to the best version of Frederik Gauthier to date.

The 6-foot-5 center made a habit of ensuring that his on-ice presence was felt on a recurring basis. He notched timely goals, utilized his underrated shot with a relatively high degree of effectiveness and was not afraid to get dirty in front of the net when the situation demanded it.

What impressed me more than anything was the overarching sense that Gauthier had gone to great lengths to improve aspects of his game that many had long written off. The 24-year-old’s skating was legitimately impressive and his hustle certainly prompted fans to recognize the value in offering No. 33 a roster spot.

Nonetheless, there were pressing issues with the center’s style of play. That Gauthier provided next to no assistance on special teams units was a relevant point of concern — especially in light of Toronto’s expansive face-off troubles on the penalty kill. Add the fact that rumblings about Gauthier’s apparent lack of physical presence remained part of the Maple Leafs talk circuit and the argument for dropping him in favor of a more skill-based forward became that much clearer.

Overall, I still see the value that Gauthier brought to a team that was undoubtedly lacking in the size department. He was a decent two-way center who played good — but not necessarily great — hockey across the 2019-20 season. If Gauthier were to add another physical element to his game, his chances of serving as a staple of head coach Sheldon Keefe‘s lineup would increase.

Grade: B