Toronto Maple Leafs: 2017-18 Forward Grades

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a successful season.

By any measure, the 2017-18 regular season was a great one. The Toronto Maple Leafs finished third in the Atlantic Division and qualified for the playoffs for the second straight season, which is the first time that’s happened since 2002-03/ 2003-04.  How long ago was that?  Put it this way: both Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin were on that ’04 team.

This season saw Auston Matthews – though often injured – cement himself as one of the top half-dozen or so players in the NHL, and Mitch Marner emerge as an elite scorer.  Goalie Frederik Andersen had a career year and is possibly a darkhorse to secure a Vezina Trophy nomination, as the league’s best goalie.

Once again, the Leafs were able to bring in some excellent rookies (Johnsson, Kapanen, Dermott) and once again they have one of the fastest, youngest, most exciting teams in the NHL.

Whether it’s speed, depth, scoring, coaching or goaltending, the Maple Leafs are among the best at it in the NHL, and while we’re doing our best to over hype them too much, it’s pretty clear that this is the best hockey team Toronto has had in years and year and years.

With the Playoffs on the horizon, we thought we’d look back on the individual players on the team and assign them a grade from A+ (among the best in the NHL) to F (among the worst).

The Playoffs will start in a few days, and in the meantime, here’s a look back on the season that was.