Ron Wilson believes with James Reimer set as the No. 1 goalie and Phil Kessel destined to be a 40-to-50 goal scorer, the Maple Leafs are “two or three” players away from contending for the Stanley Cup.

“For me, the future is pretty bright,” Wilson said Monday, conducting an autopsy on the Leafs season — the team’s sixth in a row outside the playoffs. “We’re probably two or three pieces from being a true contender.

“I’m talking a contender — not for the playoffs — I’m talking a contender for the Stanley Cup. It may come from within. You don’t know.”

Wilson, like most of the players, based his optimism on how the young team grew together at the end of the season.

“I’m comfortable with this group more than any I’ve had in a long time because they’re growing together, improving together and believing together without any baggage to carry along,” said Wilson. “I really believe that’s what helped us down the stretch, we got younger . . . the belief system seemed to change.”

It is, of course, up to GM Brian Burke to determine whether the Leafs are truly two or three players away, what calibre those players are, and how to acquire them — through trade, free agency or patient development.

Burke will give his view of things at a news conference Tuesday at which time he’ll address Wilson’s future. Wilson, heading into the final year of a four-year contract, is the only Leaf coach in history to have missed the playoffs three years in a row. It appears he’s going to get an extension.

“I’m not even going to talk about that,” said Wilson. “That’s between Brian (Burke) and me.”

Three coaches from teams that missed the playoffs have already been fired: Cory Clouston in Ottawa, Peter DeBoer in Florida and Todd Richards in Minnesota. A fourth, New Jersey’s Jacques Lemaire, retired.

Reimer is the team’s No. 1 goalie, with Jonas Gustavsson going to get every opportunity to be the backup and even challenge Reimer at training camp. It appears Jean-Sebastien Giguere may have played his last game, with Wilson saying he doesn’t want to carry three goalies next year.

Reimer, who was once described as the winner of a “Be a Leaf for a Day” contest and got to stick around, is perfectly happy as Leaf. He’s a restricted free agent on July 1 and is up for a big pay raise based on his upward trajectory through the depth chart.

“It’s kind of surreal,” said Reimer. “Who knows what the contract situation will be, but I’m sure it will work out.”

Wilson praised Reimer’s demeanour, saying the rookie didn’t let all the adulation go to his head. His only concern is giving Reimer a lot of games. He reached 60 only once, in the 2006-07 season in Red Deer (WHL).

“This year was the most amount of games I’ve played in a long time,” said Reimer. “If that’s what he wants me to do I’ll be ready. He told me to focus and get ready for the possibility of playing a lot of games next year.”

Clarke MacArthur is another restricted free agent. He sounded very willing to give the Leafs a break on a contract just so that he could stay.

“I feel like sometimes it’s better to be happy than to be greedy,” said MacArthur. “A lot of people will take more money to go other places and the love of the game goes away.

“It’d be a tough place to leave here. I don’t think you can find a better hockey place.”

There’s a good feeling among the young players on the team. The players pointed to the team’s strong play in the second half, particularly after the all-star break, as the biggest reason to hope for better next year.

“We’re going to use that experience and it’s going to help us,” said captain Dion Phaneuf. “We’re going to learn from the good and we’re going to learn from the bad.”

Wilson said he expects Nikolai Kulemin, who got 30 goals, and Mikhail Grabovski, who got 29, to continue to develop. He says Grabovski is “scratching the surface” of what kind of player he can be, saying he’s modeling his development after Detroit stars Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

Wilson said he believes Kessel could score 40 to 50 a year, with Joffrey Lupul getting up to 30 if they find the right centre.

“I’m hoping,” said Kessel, who scored 32 this year. “I got a lot of chances. I could have had more this year pretty easily. I feel like I could get there.”

In Wilson’s mind Tyler Bozak might be better suited for third-line duty with Nazem Kadri.

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“We just have to continue next year where we left off,” said Wilson. “We piled up a bunch of (experience) at the end and I think that’s all it’s going to take for next year.

“We found a goalie in Reimer. Assuming everything stays the same and guys start where they left off. That’s always a dangerous assumption to make. You have to expect guys to play they way they did at the end.

“There’ll be a lot of young guys we’re going to expect more from to improve themselves physically, get stronger. If they watch playoffs, learn from some of the experiences of learning from other teams and identify themselves with the skill sets of peers throughout the league. They can get better over the summertime and believe that they can do it,” said Wilson.

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