TORONTO -- Just over a month ago, right here at Air Canada Centre, Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock made a comment that now carries prophetic irony.
While wearing his Team Canada hat in the midst of another unbeaten run in a best-on-best tournament, Canada's head coach was asked, following a round-robin victory on Sept. 21, about Team North America's kids getting more love from fans and media than his juggernaut side.
"I like watching that team because there's tons of skill," Babcock said of the 23-and-under squad. "I like winning more, though. I just want to win ...''
It was telling, perhaps, because 30-odd days later, he has one of the most entertaining, youthful sides in the NHL so far -- but one that has registered just one win in six games despite leading in five of those matches.
Even when they found themselves down 5-1 in the third period on Tuesday night to the Stanley Cup contender Tampa Bay Lightning, the baby-faced Leafs scored twice in the third period to make it interesting before eventually losing 7-3 -- all the while outshooting the Bolts 43-24.
Win or lose, these Leafs aren't going to be boring this season.
"It's fun to watch them," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said a day before his team faced Toronto. "I think it's ... the new NHL, where teams have gone a bit younger. These guys just possess a ton of skill. It's almost akin to the North America team that I had a pleasure of being a part of [as assistant coach] -- just a lot of young guys who have a lot of skill and have a lot of fun playing the game. You can see it when they're on the ice.''
The challenge ahead for Babcock is to groom these kids into a more consistent, polished outfit -- something like the offensively talented Lightning team that's been knocking at the championship door for a few years now.
Imagine telling a Leafs fan before the season started that on the morning of Oct. 25, Auston Matthews, 19, would be leading the NHL in scoring, with 10 points (6-4); linemate William Nylander, 20, would be right behind with nine points (4-5); and Mitch Marner, 19, would already look like a polished, two-way NHLer because his overall game was so impressive. And then telling that same Toronto fan that his team was controlling the puck much of the time, too.
Yeah, that Leafs fan would have taken it. And imagine that fan's surprise when you told him or her that -- despite all that -- the team would have only one win in six games.
The crux of the matter, of course, as evidenced by Toronto newspaper reports on Wednesday morning, was that offseason goalie acquisition Frederik Andersen has fallen on his face so far during his brief Leafs tenure.
After Toronto's Jonathan Bernier experiment did not work out (although I still believe no goalie would have looked good behind that Leafs roster the last few years), the Leafs went back to Southern California for a second consecutive time in an attempt to fix their goaltending woes. They traded to get Andersen from the Anaheim Ducks -- and then signed him to a five-year, $25 million contract the same day.
Andersen has given up 22 goals in five games and sports a .851 save percentage. A few of those seven goals he gave up on Tuesday night were as much a result of the brutal defensive coverage -- or lack thereof -- in front of him. But it has still been a disaster of a start to the season for the 27-year-old.
Babcock has staunchly defended Anderson publicly -- what else is he going to do? But you know that, behind the scenes, management has to be nervous to some degree, even a grizzled veteran such as GM Lou Lamoriello. There's a lot riding on this investment in goal.
"I liked him in Anaheim," said an Eastern Conference goalie coach via text message of Andersen. "Was always concerned with his durability. Or his 'desire to play.' Anaheim protected their goalies well. But he still made saves, won the Jennings [Trophy] by a goal and he was excellent in the last game [last season] against the Caps to clinch [the Pacific Division]. It's one thing to not make big saves. It's another to do uncharacteristic things and give up goals a junior could stop.
"I always say you don't lose your skills overnight," the coach continued. "It will turn if [Andersen] has any mental toughness at all.''
Added a Western Conference goalie coach via text message: "What I have seen [with Andersen] is busy feet. When he's not set, he has a tough time. I think he is one of the best. He has struggled, though.''
And finally, from an NHL scout: "He looks really active in the net right now. He's not allowing the play to come to him.''
Two things to ponder here with Andersen:
1) He was always the 1B guy chasing the 1A guy in Anaheim, pushing Jonas Hiller and then John Gibson. He was the pursuer. Now, for the first time in his career, he's been handed the No. 1 job. There's a mental adjustment with that.
2) The Denmark native comes from a non-hockey market in Anaheim, where he played without too much fanfare, to the NHL's biggest market in Toronto, where the lights are shining bright.
I asked Andersen after Tuesday night's game about point No. 2.
"Definitely an adjustment," he said of his move to hockey-crazed Toronto. "But you've just got to keep doing what you're doing, don't try to change too much. I think that's something that I've got to be better at, just play my game and then the results should come."
I think they will come. Andersen showed too much promise in Anaheim not to be that guy again. But this is an awful way to get it going here in Toronto. And it's a narrative that won't be easily discarded until Andersen really bears down. Every postgame loss analysis from here on out will begin by examining his performance.
In the meantime, the Leafs should have more than one win this season. How that will affect the psyche of a young team remains to be seen.
"Yeah, it's frustrating, for sure," Matthews said. "But it's a long season. We'll stay positive in this room. There's no doubt in our minds we'll get out of it.''