Could the Toronto Maple Leafs Benefit From This Return-To-Play Format?

We are inching closer and closer to a possible NHL return and some Toronto Maple Leafs are already back in the city, but yet, the future is a little blurred.

With the season potentially starting in the beginning of August, a lot of people have already made their predictions for the Toronto Maple Leafs and each of the other 23 teams.

It’s going to be interesting in the coming weeks because we don’t even know if hockey will return yet.

The NHL hasn’t named any hub cities yet and while Las Vegas was rumoured to be one of the two that will house 12 teams in August, you can’t believe it until it’s confirmed.

But let’s go back to analyzing for a second.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are matched up against the Columbus Blue Jackets in their play-in series. Some people say it’s a good matchup for both teams, while others say one of the two will get through to the next round easily.

With there not being any hockey for the last three months, it’s likely that every team will be healthy and it will kind of feel like the start of the NHL season again.

And what comes with that is the word, “hot streaks.”

Usually what happens at the start of every season is that if a team gets hot, they usually win a lot of games. And the Toronto Maple Leafs are a team whereas if they win and keep winning, they’d be able to do something special.

If not, well, you’ve seen what’s transpired this season, so you know what the ‘other’ possibilities are.

This whole return-to-play format is going to be a lot of fun, but also very interesting (if it does actually happen).

The fact that a team that was already outside of the playoffs has a chance of winning, if they got hot is very interesting.

It makes it that more fascinating because for all we know, the Montreal Canadiens could go out and win the Stanley Cup, all because they were hot (let’s hope that doesn’t happen).

With everyone again healthy on the Toronto Maple Leafs though, their chances are significantly better, obviously. And if they get hot, they are one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL.

Again though, there’s still a possibility that this return-to-play format doesn’t happen and we just move onto next season. But, if it does happen and the Toronto Maple Leafs get hot, watch out.