Expect the Toronto Maple Leafs to be an improved team next season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had themselves quite the off-season so far adding a handful of depth forwards and a couple of defensemen too.
It has been just under two weeks into the off-season and a lot of people are already excited for the Toronto Maple Leafs 2020/21 season because of their recent additions.
Here are three reasons why the Leafs are going to be better next year.
3. Addressed Physicality and Grit
The Toronto Maple Leafs will be a better team next season because they added a little bit more physicality and grit to their lineup. This off-season Kyle Dubas went out and acquired a couple of players who provide that on the ice along with the “harder to play against” title to their name too in Wayne Simmonds and Zach Bogosian.
If we’re being honest right now, yes I do believe every hockey team needs at least a couple of players who can provide that physicality and grit on the ice and make their team harder to play against. This is something the Leafs really lacked in last season and years prior. Yes they have Jake Muzzin and they also had Kyle Clifford for a little while during last season and into the play in round against Columbus, but it wasn’t anything out of this world.
Along with Muzzin and Clifford, the Leafs did have other players that had more of the title “pest” rather than “goon” or “enforcer” in Kapanen, Johnsson, Dermott, Hyman, etc. They were all players who had the tendency to get under other players skins rather than go out there and lay big hits and fight people, so it’s safe to say with the additions of Simmonds and Bogosian it’ll set a different tone on the ice for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Simmonds and Bogosian have had quite the history of being a physical player on the ice as they have had countless seasons with a high number of hits along with blocks if you want to add that as being a physical player too. Let’s take a look at these two players hit and block totals during their careers. (Stats from Hockey-Reference.com)
Wayne Simmonds
2019-20 season – 68 GP – 145 HTS – 29 BLK
Career – 909 GP – 1657 HTS – 433 BLK
Zach Bogosian
2019-20 season – 27 GP – 30 HTS – 27 BLK
Career – 644 GP – 1133 HTS – 948 BLK