Editor In Leaf
Fansided

Toronto Maple Leafs: Secret Cup Favorites

By James Tanner

TORONTO, ON - MARCH 10: Pittsburgh Penguins Defenceman Kris Letang (58) and Pittsburgh Penguins Goalie Tristan Jarry (35) react as Toronto Maple Leafs Defenceman Morgan Rielly (44), Toronto Maple Leafs Center Nazem Kadri (43) and Toronto Maple Leafs Center Tyler Bozak (42) celebrate a goal during the NHL regular season game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 10, 2018, at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photograph by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - MARCH 10: Pittsburgh Penguins Defenceman Kris Letang (58) and Pittsburgh Penguins Goalie Tristan Jarry (35) react as Toronto Maple Leafs Defenceman Morgan Rielly (44), Toronto Maple Leafs Center Nazem Kadri (43) and Toronto Maple Leafs Center Tyler Bozak (42) celebrate a goal during the NHL regular season game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 10, 2018, at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photograph by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Toronto Maple Leafs are secretly Stanley Cup Favorites.

What I mean, is that the Toronto Maple Leafs are a significantly better team than the standings or stats would indicate.

Currently the Leafs sit in a tie for sixth place in the overall league standings.  They’ve clinched a playoff spot, and will open up on the road against the Bruins or the Lightning.

Now, it doesn’t exactly seem fair that the league’s sixth best team gets rewarded for being better than 26 other teams by having to face one of the other best teams, on the road no less.  But what can you do?

This opening round match puts a significant dent in my thesis that the Leafs should be favorites.  Also denting this theory: the Leafs are sixth, not first, they have two sets of winning streaks that were 99% goalie-based, they play Roman Polak as a regular, they allow way, way too many shots and are just generally not a good defensive team.  Oh and there’s the whole Ron Hainsey on the top line thing.  And the total lack of team defense.

I could go on, but I won’t.   I think despite their weaknesses, the Leafs are still the best team in the NHL.

Why the Toronto Maple Leafs are Best

Despite their weakness, the Leafs have gotten to where they are without Auston Matthews for 20 games.  That’s a quarter of the entire schedule without their best player.

Matthews is only a couple of goals off his second straight 5v5 goal scoring title and has clearly become one of the top three or four players in the entire league.  Add him to a lineup that doesn’t even seem to miss him when he’s gone and you’ve got absolute insanity.

Then there is the fact that the Leafs have Tomas Plakanec on the fourth line centering Kasperi Kapanen and either Leo Komarov or Andreas Johnsson. That’s an above average third line masquerading as a fourth line.  It gives the Leafs the option of using their 4th line as their main shut-down line, a luxury that, as far as I know, no other team in hockey has.

A komarov-Plekanec-Kapanen line is an elite defensive  unit that can allow the Leafs to further exploit the fact that they have a 30 goal scorer on each of their top three lines.

Then there’s the eye-popping fact that William Nylander and Mitch Marner are not included on that list.  Nylander is a game breaking superstar with Art Ross potential and Mitch Marner is even better – he’s the Malkin to Matthew’s Crosby.

More from Editor In Leaf

Marner has been a top ten scorer in the NHL since about Christmas and if not for his incredibly bad luck to start the season, he’s likely in the top ten right now.  Currently he’s ranked 36th and some of the guys ahead of him get up to four minutes more ice-time per game.  Basically, Mitch Marner has blossomed into an elite level player this year and the Leafs now have two of the NHL’s best forwards in their lineup.  But when people think about the Leafs, they forget about this fact.

Conclusion

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a better team than the standings or stats suggest.  It took Babcock three months to stop dressing a bad lineup, Matthews missed 1/4 of the schedule and Marner was snake bitten through December.

Also, Nyander has suffered through some terrible luck this season and Kadri went like 20 games without a point and is still over 30 goals.

Next: Boston Gives the Leafs a Gift

The Leafs have unparalleled depth which no team can match and their goalie is having a career year.  They’ve got the best coach and are the deepest team at centre in the NHL.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are secretly the best team in the NHL.

Home/Editorials