Toronto Maple Leafs: A Look Into the (Probable) Final Standings

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be in the NHL Playoffs, should they occur.

There may or may not be a playoff tournament this year, but if there is, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have qualified by being in third place in the Atlantic Division on the last day of the season.

While There may be a play-in round, or nothing at all, the Leafs finished third, which is sort of ironic, given that despite all the consternation and turmoil, they’ll still start the playoffs in the same position they did last year in what was considered a successful regular season.

The Leafs finished with a record of 36-25-9.

While we already went through some of the things that would be true if the season is over, the NHL standings contain a lot of information, some of which may be worth discussing.

Toronto Maple Leafs Standings Report

Boston lead the league with 44 wins, while Detroit had just 17.

The two best teams are both in the Atlantic Division, with Tampa having 43 wins (despite finishing two points behind the Blues in one less game).

If you consider that the 12th place team finished only eight wins behind Boston, but didn’t dress their optimal lineup for a single game, had to fire their coach after a six game losing streak, didn’t get a single win from their back-up goalie for three months, and played nine games without both of their top two defenseman, then it is highly likely that all three of the NHL’s best teams play in the same division.

To go through all that, and to be 28th in 5v5 goalie save percentage, and still finish 12th overall is a great accomplishment, even if no one wants to recognize it.

The Flyers were the NHL’s best home team, while the Avalanche were the NHL’s best road team.

Tampa, Washington and the Toronto Maple Leafs were the NHL’s three highest scoring teams.

Boston, Dallas and Arizona were the three teams who allowed the least goals.

Despite some Leafs fans taking the offense for granted while complaining insistently about their lack of defense, it should be noted that the Leafs finished just a single point behind Dallas and ten positions in the overall standings higher than Arizona.

The NHL’s best puck-possession team was the Vegas Golden Knights, while the Toronto Maple Leafs were sixth, just behind Tampa.

Colorado, Boston, Tampa and St.Louis had the highest PDOs in the NHL, while also finishing top four in the Standings.  I know people like to down play the importance of luck in the standings, but it’s no coincidence that luckiest teams (highest combined shooting and save percentage) are also the best teams.

The Leafs – it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn – were 19th in PDO.  The Leafs have essentially the same Corsi as Tampa and the same Expected Goals Percentage as Boston.   (All stats naturalstattrick.com).

The fact that the Leafs season wasn’t as successful as we hoped should be seen in this light because it strongly suggests that the Kyle Dubas has built a team that is every bit as good as the NHL’s two best teams.

A new coach (check) a healthy roster (TBD) and some good goaltending (TBD) will help make this into a reality, but for now, there is ample evidence that the Toronto Maple Leafs GM is on the right track.

And that is your NHL standings update.