Toronto Maple Leafs: By Far the Best Roster in the NHL

The Toronto Maple Leafs have the best roster in the NHL.

This doesn’t seem to be universally acknowledged, however.  I recently saw someone on TV say they did not consider the Toronto Maple Leafs a true Stanley Cup contender.  I saw someone else say that he thought the Jets were the best team in the NHL.

These people are kidding themselves.

There isn’t a team within two miles of the Leafs roster.  The fact that this isn’t universally acknowledged is because people are concerned with being right, and so nothing ever becomes a consensus until it is so obvious that even a three-year-old would know it.

Until the Leafs do something like win 20 games in a row or win a couple of rounds in the playoffs, they won’t truly get the respect that they deserve.

So allow me to point a few things out, just for your consideration.

Points Concerning the Best Roster in the NHL

At one point, the Leafs were in first place overall in the NHL standings, despite Auston Matthews missing over half the games and William Nylander missing all of them.

They are currently second overall, a third of the way through the schedule, and since Garret Sparks played on Thursday, they are still yet to ice their optimal lineup for a single game.

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Auston Matthews is a top-five player overall in the NHL, and both Morgan Rielly and Frederik Andersen are top-five at their respective positions.  Mitch Marner could potentially win the scoring title this year, so he’s probably got to also be considered top five winger.

Some people are going to quibble about Rielly, but they are wrong. He deserved a Norris nomination last year and if the season ended today he’d deserve to win it.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a top-five player at every position.  They accomplish that without mentioning John Tavares (50 goal pace, one of the best overall players in the NHL, future Hall of Famer), Nazem Kadri (easily a top 20 centre, giving the Leafs three #1 Centres), or Jake Gardiner (one of only 16 50 point defenseman).

The Leafs also have Andreas Johnson. He has a hat-trick in a game this year, and he would perhaps have won the AHL scoring title last year if he had not been called up.  He is basically an after thought on this team.

Kasperi Kapanen is having a breakout year, on pace for 25/55 and also one of the fastest players in the league.

Rielly, Gardiner and Travis Dermott give them the best left-side defense lineup on the NHL.

Their top power-play unit not only doesn’t have room for William Nylander, but it is one of the greatest power-plays in NHL history, and I will fight anyone who says differently.

They will reap massive advantage over the course of the season from the fact that other teams do not take penalties against them.  Fear of the power play will lead them to more regular strength goals as teams are much easier to play against if they’re afraid to take penalties.

Teams will have to choose between putting their second best lines out against Tavares/ Marner or Matthews/Nylander.

And finally, Auston Matthews, who is scoring at a goal per game pace, will now be getting fed passes from an elite playmaker.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have best roster in the NHL.  Plus a bunch of cap space and all their draft picks and quite a few pretty decent (i.e valuable in a trade) prospects.

So they will also be getting better.