Grading the Positional Units for the Toronto Maple Leafs Through 3 Weeks

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been equal parts great and mediocre in the first three weeks of the NHL season.

The club has played some inspired hockey in stretches. At other times, there has been little passion in the team's game.

The Leafs seems to have the ingredients to be a playoff contender, but it's going to take everyone pulling in the same direction to make the NHL's second season.

They need contributions from all positions to be successful. Phil Kessel can't score all of the team's goals, even if he seems capable of doing so at times.

Let's grade Toronto's positional units based on the first three weeks of play.

All basic stats can be found on NHL.com unless noted otherwise. All advanced stats can be found at Puckalytics.com.

Wingers

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Grade: B-

There have been some bright spots for the Leafs on the wings. Phil Kessel has been an offensive threat on most nights, and he is third in scoring in the NHL—enough said.

James van Riemsdyk has been playing decent two-way hockey, but he hasn't yielded great offensive results yet. That is likely to change given his play over the past two seasons.

Daniel Winnik, Leo Komarov and David Clarkson have had solid starts to the season. Komarov backs down from no one, while Clarkson has played much better than in 2013-14.

In Clarkson's case, that wasn't a difficult task.

The biggest disappointment has been Joffrey Lupul. While the effort has been there on many nights, the results are not good. He has just three points in the first three weeks.

Lupul is now out with injury, so he can't redeem himself in the near future.

This group has been better than average to begin the season, but there is room for growth. 

Centres

USA TODAY Sports

Grade: C

The club entered the season with some question marks at centre ice. Those questions remain.

The team needs more NHL-calibre depth and above all a dominant first-line centre.

Many teams have those same needs. 

Tyler Bozak has managed 11 points this season, but his possession numbers are not ideal. In particular, his 44.6 Corsi number ranks 16th best on the team.

Nazem Kadri has a much better Corsi number of 55.1, but five points in three weeks is very poor for a player of his skill level.

Mike Santorelli and Peter Holland have been good in depth roles, but it's not good when Santorelli's number of points matches Kadri's total.

The team needs more from this group in order to win hockey games.

Defencemen

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

Grade: C

There was some good competition at this position in training camp. It appeared to be a promising group in many ways with some talented youngsters and proven veterans joining the group.

Morgan Rielly has certainly looked good on most nights. He has all the potential to develop into a No. 1 defender for many years to come.

Dion Phaneuf continues to be a lightning rod when things go poorly, but he's leading the defence in scoring. His Corsi number is 49.3, and he's plus-four despite playing against some tough competition.

Jake Gardiner has played well in spurts. His 50.4 Corsi number leads the defence. One goal and just seven shots from this talented rearguard isn't enough.

Cody Franson and Stuart Percy have contributed at both ends of the rink, while newcomers Stephane Robidas and Roman Polak have been mediocre at best.

More was expected from this group. We'll see if they continue to jell in the weeks ahead. 

Goaltenders

Len Redkoles/Getty Images

Grade: A-

As it was last year, the goaltending duo of James Reimer and Jonathan Bernier has been the best part of the Leafs as a whole. 

The difference this year is that Reimer has been better than Bernier, at least statistically, in the first three weeks of the regular season. Reimer has a .925 save percentage, while Bernier sits at .917.  

Very rarely is Toronto's goaltending second best. Much of the talk about trading Reimer has cooled and that just makes good sense with the demands of a taxing NHL regular season.

With this type of performance from these two, expect the Leafs to stay right in the thick of the playoff race this season.