Toronto Maple Leafs: 7 Bright Spots in a Rapidly Fading Season

With Sunday's loss to the Washington Capitals, the Toronto Maple Leafs are now 1-4 under head coach Randy Carlyle.

If you haven't already, it's time to accept that these Leafs will not be making the playoffs this year. They would need to win at least 10 out of their remaining 13 games to even have a chance.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that they're losing games like there's no tomorrow.

In times like this, it's tough to focus on the positives (if you can find any), but despite how it looks, there are a few good things that Leaf fans can take away from the current season.

Here are seven good things to come out of an otherwise disastrous 2011-12 season.

Jonas Gustavsson

Jonas Gustavsson is 17-16-3-4 for the Leafs. He has a goals-against average of 2.82 and a .906 save percentage.

Those numbers are unimpressive, but they don't tell the whole story.

For most of 2012, Gustavsson has been one of the Leafs' best players. If you can forgive him for allowing the requisite "soft goal" in seemingly every game, you'll find he makes key saves at key moments to keep his team in the game.

The Leafs lost 6-2 against the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 18. Since then, Toronto is 1-7-2.

Remarkably, during that stretch, the Leafs didn't lose a game by more than two goals.

The offense did alright during those 10 games, scoring at least three goals on six occasions. However, if it wasn't for the Monster, the losses would have been much worse.

If Gustavsson continues the way he's going now, current backup James Reimer could be gone by the beginning of next season.

Joffrey Lupul

Coming back from back surgery and some nasty complications, Joffrey Lupul surprised everyone with a career year in terms of points.

In 66 games this season, Lupul has 25 goals and 42 assists for 67 points, second on the team only to Phil Kessel's 71 points.

The left winger is currently injured, but since the Leafs' playoff hopes are virtually dead, there's no rush for him to return.

He has been an exciting player to watch this season and truly one of the few bright spots on the team.

Guys who were expected to step up—Nikolai Kulemin and Luke Schenn to name a couple—have not.

Kudos to the guy who had nothing much expected of him back in September, but stepped up in a big way.

Matt Frattin

Matt Frattin will one day be a 20-goal scorer in the NHL.

He's not a big guy a 6'0", 200 lbs., but he plays big. He's mean and he hits hard, as Max Pacioretty, Francois Beauchemin or Alexei Ponikarovsky will tell you.

To top that off, he has speed and skill.

The young winger is still learning the game, but in a couple years, he'll look great as a legitimate top-six forward for the Blue and White.

This might be a controversial opinion, but I believe the emergence of Frattin makes Nazem Kadri expendable. The latter has not shown the same level of hockey intelligence or toughness as the former.

Carter Ashton

He has only played in three NHL games, but big Carter Ashton is showing signs of what is to come.

Picked 29th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2009 draft, Ashton has displayed commitment to forechecking and physical play along the boards.

Given a full year with the Toronto Marlies, the 20-year-old Winnipeg native could turn into a bigger version of Matt Frattin.

In other words, it's possible the Leafs will have two legitimate power forwards develop from within their own system in a couple years, which would remove the need to trade for one.

The remainder of the 2011-12 season will be valuable experience for Ashton; experience we hope he can use to accelerate his transformation into a full-time NHL player.

Mikhail Grabovski

Is $27.5 million over five years too much for a second line centreman?

Given the lack of other options for the Toronto Maple Leafs, I'm inclined to say no. It's better to pay a little extra cash to acquire or retain a player than to pay too much in a trade.

Mikhail Grabovski had a slow start to the season, but currently has 21 goals and 26 assists for 47 points in 63 games played. He's roughly on pace to match point total (58) from last season.

Grabovski possesses something which so many of his teammates lack: fire.

He gets bulldozed seemingly every game, but he pops right back up and hunts down the puck. He doesn't shy away from physical play, which keeps him involved in the play.

He's one of the smarter players on the team and doesn't usually commit the egregious turnovers that we are so used to seeing from his teammates.

Overpaid or not, Leaf fans should be thankful he re-signed.

Randy Carlyle

I was somewhat of a supporter of Ron Wilson during his tenure as head coach, but towards the end, it was clear that while the players still stood behind him, his system just wasn't working anymore.

Enter Randy Carlyle.

I never had a problem with the way Wilson dealt with his players or the media, but Carlyle seems to hold players more accountable for their actions.

He also seems to place more emphasis on fitness, physicality and defensive responsibility.

Carlyle was brought in to salvage the season and to get used to the organization and city in advance of next year.

Now that the season is virtually unsalvageable, the remaining time can be used for the players to get used to Carlyle and vice versa.

We can look forward to a rougher brand of hockey in Toronto next year.

A High Pick

At the time of writing, the Toronto Maple Leafs are in a position to pick eighth overall. They are tied with the Minnesota Wild and the Anaheim Ducks in terms of points and games played, but have more regulation and overtime wins.

There's still time for the Leafs to make a futile playoff push, but for the first time in years, it doesn't look like they'll be able to given their current lack of offense, defense and cohesion.

That's great news.

A top 10 draft pick is preferable over a humiliating first-round playoff exit.

Is centreman Mikhail Grigorenko out of the question? He will likely be able to immediately jump into a top-six role. He will probably be picked between second and fourth overall, so hopefully the Leafs can swing a deal.

What about defensemen Mathew Dumba and Morgan Rielly? Both will likely be picked in the top 10, so perhaps trading up won't be necessary.

The defensive corps needs a major shake-up, and perhaps one of the current Leafs defensemen can be moved to make way for a young guy like Dumba or Rielly.