Toronto Maple Leafs 2019-20 Player Expectations and Forecasts
By James Tanner
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a busy summer.
Though the Toronto Maple Leafs have (more or less) established a core group of players, they still managed to turn over more than a third of their roster this summer.
Leaving the Leafs were Patrick Marleau, Connor Brown, Ron Hainsey, Nikita Zaitsev, Igor Ozhiganov, Nazem Kadri, Tyler Ennis, Garret Sparks and Jake Gardiner (though hopefully not).
That’s nine players.
Additionally, Zach Hyman and Travis Dermott will open the year on the injured reserve.
That means that the Leafs will have only one defenseman – Morgan Rielly (who should at the very least have been a Norris Finalist last season) – who played on opening night last season.
With Josh Leivo and Par Lindholm already gone, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have a minimum of 12 different players in their opening night lineup this season. 13 if you count the back-up goalie.
Only Matthews, Marner (we assume), Tavares, Johnsson, Kapanen, Rielly, Andersen, Matthews remain.
That’s only eight players (of course the numbers are skewed because Nylander sat out last fall, and Hyman and Dermott, as mentioned, are injured). (Stats and info from naturalstattrick.com).
Still it’s a lot of turnover. While it is a little crazy, I don’t think it’s anything to worry about since NHL games are won with first line players, and the Leafs have built arguably the best core in the league.
Additionally, the Toronto Maple Leafs now have a much deeper, much more versatile roster. (Not only is the defense more balanced from left to right without any drop-off in quality, but the addition of Alex Kerfoot gives the Leafs the kind of high-end defensive forward they’ve lacked in the last few seasons).
With so much change, it’s going to be difficult to predict who is going to play where and with who, let alone how successful everyone will be. That said, it’s not going to stop us from trying, so please enjoy our pre-pre-season rundown of the Leafs roster, and our guesses for how everything will ultimately work out.