Toronto Maple Leafs Are Right Where They Should Be
The Toronto Maple Leafs head into their bye week sitting third in the Atlantic Division.
Before the start of the 2017/2018 NHL season, many thought the Toronto Maple Leafs had already won their division with the strides this team took a year ago. Add that with the talent, skill and the acquisitions of Patrick Marleau and Ron Hainsey, how could you not think the Leafs would improve?
That isn’t the case as we head past the halfway point of the season and the Leafs seem to be sitting about where they were last year. Although, to be fair, injuries to Matthews and Zaitsev have played a big role in that, whereas, last year they were relatively healthy.
Everyone knows this team is young (like you haven’t heard that before), but many got ahead of themselves. Is this a playoff team? Yes. Are they a cup contender? In the NHL, all you have to do is make the Playoffs. But, the Leafs haven’t shown me this season that they really are a team that you can watch at and say “wow, they’ll win the cup.” it’s more like, “wow, they’ll win the cup someday.”
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How Can They Improve?
As though it may seem the Leafs have found their long-lost top d man in Morgan Rielly, they still need to acquire defense help. A position that has been haunting the Leafs for years.
The Leafs currently play 36 year-old Ron Hainsey on their top line. They are giving significant minutes to the objectively terrible Roman Polak, and have too many lefties, not enough righties. Gardiner hasn’t been as good as he was last year, and Carrick, Borgman and Dermott are young and inexperienced.
The Leafs give up the fourth most shots per game in the NHL, and even a cursory look into the stats shows a team that has been highly reliant on a high shooting percentage and excellent goaltending to get wins.
It is glaringly obvious that before we can consider the Leafs anything more than the rightful holder of third place in the Atlantic, that they need to improve their blueline.
Next: Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Deadline Roundtable
The Leafs are a playoff team for the present and the future, but they’re currently sitting right where they should be with the way they are playing. With improvements in the second half from numerous players they could make a push and finish higher than where they’re at, but for now, they’re fine right where they are.
Thanks for reading.