3 Reasons Why the Toronto Maple Leafs Will be a Better Team Next Year
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
VANCOUVER, BC – FEBRUARY 08: T.J. Brodie #7 of the Calgary Flames . (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)
2. Help on Defense
The Toronto Maple Leafs brought in a terrific defensemen in TJ Brodie via free agency who will more than likely play alongside Morgan Rielly.
Rielly has never played alongside a defensemen that benefits his play style, we’ve seen him play along with multiple defensemen throughout his years as a Leaf like Cody Ceci, Ron Hainsey, Nikita Zaitsev, and the list goes on.
Brodie plays the right side and is a solid, if unflashy, top pairing defender.
Brodie is someone who will come into the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup and make an immediate impact on the ice. You look at last seasons group compared to this seasons group on the back end and it is much better in the sense that they have more bodies that were needed on this team.
You go from Barrie, Ceci, Marincin last season along with Rielly, Muzzin, Holl, and Dermott to adding Brodie, Bogosian, and Lehtonen along with the other four current Leafs in Rielly, Muzzin, Holl, and Dermott. That defensive group is way better and fills in what the team was missing (physicality and defensive awareness) (Stats from Hockey-Reference.com)
TJ Brodie
2019-20 stats – 64 GP – 4 G – 15 A – 19 PTS – 52.4% CF%
Career – 634 GP – 48 G – 218 A – 266 PTS – 50.9% CF%
TORONTO, ONTARIO – AUGUST 06: Nicholas Robertson #89 of the Toronto Maple Leafs.. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images).
1. Full Season Under Keefe
The Leafs will get their biggest advantage from having a full season under Sheldon Keefe. As everyone should know, the Maple Leafs only got 47 games with Sheldon Keefe after the firing of Mike Babcock and before the season was put on pause due to Covid-19.
If you look at the NHL standings, the Toronto Maple Leafs did finish their 2019-20 season with a record of 36-25-9 (81 PTS) which gave them seventh place in the Eastern Conference. As head coach Babcock held a record of 9-10-4 (22 PTS) through the teams first 23 games of the season.
Fast forward to the hiring of Keefe, the Toronto Maple Leafs shot out of a cannon and played some of their best hockey of the season and ended up with a record of 27-15-5 (59 PTS) through 47 games under Keefe. Under Keefe the Leafs were on pace for 47 wins and 102 PTS on an 82 game pace, under Babcock they were on pace for 32 wins and 78 PTS.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were getting under Keefe is way better than Babcock and it was only half a season. Sheldon Keefe is the proper coach for this team, they are offensive minded and that’s the play style Keefe and Dubas love.
Mike Babcock, on the other hand, was more of a defensive minded coach and it really didn’t work out as we could see.
Next. Give Gary Bettman a Hand. dark
All in all with the new additions, the help on defense, the toughness and physicality Kyle Dubas brought in this off-season, and a full season under Sheldon Keefe, the Leafs will be greatly improved.