Editor In Leaf
Fansided

Forget Contending, Toronto Maple Leafs Will be Favorites

By James Tanner

Apr 6, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) watches before a face-off against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Air Canada Centre. The Lightning beat the Maple Leafs 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 6, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) watches before a face-off against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Air Canada Centre. The Lightning beat the Maple Leafs 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Forget about whether the rebuild is over ( it is) or if/when the Toronto Maple Leafs will be contenders.

You can skip all that.

There is a very good chance that the Toronto Maple Leafs can start next season as the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.  Not just Atlantic Division favorites, not Eastern Conference favorites – but the favorite to win the whole thing.

Now, as far as the Vegas line and the lame, predictable main-stream media’s pre-season predictions go, the Leafs will almost certainly not be called the favorite as the season starts.   Those things are very conservative, and everyone plays it safe.

But even if they didn’t, to have the title of ‘favorite’,’ you have to have a history of winning.  And the Leafs do not.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, however, have a very good chance of entering the 2017-18 season with the best roster in the NHL.

Toronto Maple Leafs Are Going to be Very Good, Very Fast

Now I know y’all are reading this and thinking I’m nuts.   But I’m not. The Leafs have Kasperi Kapenan, Connor Brown and Nikita Zaitsev – players who hardly register on the team’s barometer because they are so stacked with talent.

Jake Gardiner, Frederik Andersen, Nazem Kadri and James van Riemsdyk would be the core of a very, very good team.

But on the Leafs they’re supporting players.   Auston Matthews scored 30 5v5 goals, as a rookie.  He led the NHL.  He’s one Connor McDavid injury away from being the best player in the NHL.

William Nylander just won the MVP of the World Championships.  Mitch Marner – whose rookie season compares favorably with three-time Cup Champ and former Art Ross winner Patrick Kane – somehow manages to be the Leafs 3rd most important forward.

So the Leafs have all that.  They also have a metric tonne of cap-space.  They have more wingers / prospects than they’ll ever need.  They are well positioned for the expansion draft.  They have all their future first round picks.

What that means is they have the means and opportunity to improve.

More from Editor In Leaf

All their best players are on entry-level deals.  Their in-their-prime players are on team-friendly deals.  If the Cap doesn’t go up, much of their competition will be crushed with damned-if-you-do type decisions.

The stars are aligning.  The Toronto Maple Leafs have an incredible core of players, above average complimentary players, cap-space, reason to think their competition will be hurt more by the cap and expansion draft than they will, and the assets to essentially do whatever they want.

The Toronto Maple Leafs should very easily be able to compete for next year’s Cup.  But they ought to be the favorites to win it.

Next: Get Me Joe Thornton

Home/Editorials