The Toronto Maple Leafs were billed as the most exciting offensive team in hockey, but we’re not seeing that.
With Auston Matthews and William Nylander out of the lineup, the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking very ordinary.
To be fair, they probably should have scored four or give goals against the Dallas Stars last night, but overall, outside of their high-flying start (which was propped up by ridiculous power-play success and a crazy shooting percentage) they’ve looked very ordinary.
Now, what team would thrive while missing arguably their two best players? No team would, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. We spent the entire summer getting pumped up for an offense the likes of which the salary cap NHL has never seen, and we’re not even close to seeing that.
Where’s the Goals?
Now don’t get me wrong here – the Leafs are a great team, and we all know perfectly well that Matthews and Nylander will be back within the month. But there are other concerns as well.
After a torrid start, the Leafs last six games have featured goal counts of 0,1,4,3,1,1. That is just ten goals over six games, when this team should be looking at 20-24. That’s under two per night, and seven of the ten goals came in just two of the games.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have scored one or less in four of their last six games.
Obviously the Leafs will pick this up, but there are some concerns.
Other than Morgan Rielly (16 points in 11 Games and on the verge of Swedish Citizenship and changing his name to Morgan Karlsson) and Gardiner (45 points pace) the Leafs defense has produced no offense at all. The other six defensemen the Leafs have used this season have combined for less points than Gardiner has.
Morgan Rielly himself has more points than everyone else combined.
The Forwards Are Terrible
It’s obvious to anyone with a pulse that the Leafs blueline needs two, probably three upgrades. All of them on the right side. If you wanna argue Ozhiganov is OK as a #6 I won’t fight you, but remember, this is a contending team, not a developing team.
As for the forwards, Connor Brown is still on the team, right? Patrick Marleau is in the lineup because of his reputation only. While depth was supposed to be this team’s strength, it’s clear that Marleau is done, that Brown has been overrated, that Lindholm and Gauthier have no offense to their games and that, overall, the Leafs are a top-heavy team that will struggle without it’s four superstar attack.
Marleau, Hyman, Gauthier, Brown, Lindholm, Ennis, Johnsson, and Leivo have a combined 2 even strength goals. I’m going to capitalize the following so it really hits home:
EIGHT OF THE LEAFS 13 FORWARDS HAVE COMBINED FOR 2 5V5 GOALS IN 93 GAMES.
Guys, you’re embarrassing Doug Gilmour.
The bottom line is this: The Leafs need upgrades all over their roster, but these are upgrades they can’t make until they get William Nylander back in the fold.