Toronto
Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs Team Report

Updated: May 29, 2012 06:25 EST

The first June playoff appearance by a Toronto-branded pro hockey team is close to becoming reality.

It's not the Maple Leafs and it's not the Stanley Cup, but don't try and tell the American Hockey League Marlies that a trip to the Calder Cup would be meaningless. If the Marlies beat the Oklahoma City Barons for the Western Conference title -- a series Toronto led 3-1 heading into Game 5 on May 25 -- it would make the AHL final against the Norfolk Admirals.

And a win there would be Toronto's first hockey trophy since the 1967 Stanley Cup. Since that championship, the Leafs have never won three playoff rounds. But the 2012 Marlies can earn jobs on the Leafs by getting to the Calder.

?"It's a huge thing for our team to keep momentum going, keep our good habits that got us to this point," defenseman Matt Lashoff said.

Heading into Game 5 against the Barons, who had finished ahead of Toronto in the regular season, the Marlies were 2-0 when needing a win to clinch a series and had not lost in regulation in the third period all season.

"That's something we've cultivated throughout the season," assistant coach Gord Dineen said. "Game by game, you go into the third period with a lead, finding a way to play the right way and not give the other team life."?

In 1992, Toronto's farm team of the time, the St. John's (Newfoundland) Leafs, took Adirondack to a seventh game in the Calder Cup final and lost. The next year, some of those players were on Pat Burns'?surprise Leaf team that took the Los Angeles Kings to seven games in the Western Conference final before losing.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT: The Leafs opened the schedule with five games at home and built a record of 4-0-1, including wins against division rivals Montreal and Ottawa. But then, after Jonas Gustavsson played net in the first loss in Boston, James Reimer was bidding for his fifth win in a game against Montreal when Canadiens' Brian Gionta accidentally kneed him in the head. Reimer missed the next month.

TURNING POINT: At the Feb. 27 trade deadline, despite a three-week slump, the Leafs sat still, making only one minor deal. GM Brian Burke said he could have made deals for up to four first-round draft choices but judged that fans didn't want to see more prospects. At the same time, he said he didn't want to mortgage the farm for what would likely be a first-round elimination.

The players sensed the white flag was coming out and played some of their worst hockey afterward -- one win in eight games -- to ensure they would not make the playoffs, and coach Ron Wilson was fired March 3.

--Player personnel director Rick Dudley's likely departure to the Montreal Canadiens to be the primary assistant of new general manager Marc Bergevin likely won't take effect until after the draft. Both the Canadiens and Leafs realize Dudley would have an unfair advantage if he took Toronto's draft game plan with him before the late June event.

--The World Championships weren't very kind to the Leafs. Canada was snuffed early in the medal round by Slovakia, taking out Toronto D Luke Schenn and D Dion Phaneuf. Team USA, coached by Leaf assistant Scott Gordon, bowed to Finland in its first elimination game. Leaf winger Joey Crabb was on that squad.

--D Mark Fraser was having mixed feelings on May 25. His Toronto Marlies were a win away from going to the Calder Cup, while the organization that traded him at the 2012 NHL deadline, the New Jersey Devils, needed a win the same night to go to the Stanley Cup final.

"To be honest, it leaves a bitter taste to see a team that passed you over do as well as they are doing," Fraser told the Toronto Star. "But that's the business. As much as I'd love to be playing a conference final for the Stanley Cup, I couldn't be happier to be playing in this conference final for the Calder Cup."?

--A plan to let the Marlies play home games at Air Canada Centre, which holds more than twice the 8,000 capacity of Ricoh Coliseum, was not pursued. The Marlies decided they liked their current home, where they had one of the AHL's best home records.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "He was wearing his bullet-proof vest." -- Toronto Marlies?coach Dallas Eakins after G Ben Scrivens stopped 30 shots in a 3-0 shutout of the Oklahoma City Blazers to give his team a 3-1 series lead.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: From the first night of the season into early January, LW Joffrey Lupul never went more than one game without getting at least a point. The team's Bill Masterton Trophy nominee had 67 points in 66 games, a career high.

MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER: F Tim Connolly was signed for two years for a total of $9.5 million US to be the first-line center. He wound up as the third-line winger and a minus-14, the latest free agent who disappointed GM Brian Burke. It should be said that Connolly played 70 games after health was the biggest question surrounding his arrival -- he previously had spent many games out of the lineup in Buffalo.

BIGGEST NEEDS: If the Leafs are to play the heavy-hitting style that coach Randy Carlyle desires, there will have to be a quick changing of the guard. Toronto was built for speed under previous coach Ron Wilson, and there aren't many big men in the organization. The Leafs have resources to trade but might need to devote that to a deal for a goaltender before anything else.

FREE AGENT FOCUS: RW Nikolai Kulemin can expect a low-ball offer from the Leafs after his goal total slipped from 30 to seven last season. G Jonas Gustavsson wants to return, but his third inconsistent season with the Leafs makes it very doubtful.

PLAYER NOTES:

--D Petter Granberg, chosen 116th overall in the 2010 draft, signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Leafs on May 24. The 6-foot-3 Swede earned a gold medal at the 2012 world junior championships.

"That was a terrific experience for him," Leafs player development director Jim Hughes told the Toronto Sun. "It was a high-end team in a high-end tournament. He had a regular shift in critical moments of games. He's primarily a defender, but off the rush he shows a lot of poise with the puck."?

--D Josh Engel, who played defense all year for the Toronto Marlies and then was out of a job when several Leafs were imported for the AHL playoffs, appeared in his first game May 23. With the team facing several injuries, Engel was drafted as a center and won two of three faceoffs.

MEDICAL WATCH:

--LW Joffrey Lupul does not expect his separated right shoulder to impede offseason training.