Comparing the Toronto Maple Leafs to Other NHL Teams

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a much better roster than you’d think from following the NHL media.

In my opinion, the Toronto Maple Leafs might have the best roster in the NHL.  They were close last year, and they added a significant piece in TJ Brodie without subtracting anything significant. They also added Joe Thornton.  Their biggest losses were Johnsson and Kapanen, but neither contributed much last season at all, and both player’s contributions should easily be replicated by whichever wingers win their jobs in camp.

There is also the fact that Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner are all still yet to peak. These players will still get better, and they are already among the league’s best players.

I think the additions, and internal improvement go a long way in making up the difference between the Leafs and the NHL’s best current team, the Tampa Bay Lightning. But since we are a Leafs-centric web site, it is perhaps possible that we are not being fully objective here.

But then again, perhaps the Leafs seem so underrated because all major NHL Media outlets are centred in Toronto and so they go out of their way to avoid seeming biased in the favor of the  Leafs.  Or perhaps most media members are not interested in challenging the most resent results, which obviously would lead to the Leafs being rated lowly.

It could even be that I am wrong, and the Leafs do not actually have one of the NHL’s best rosters.  However, if that is the case, then I think its weird that the Leafs were able to finish 8th overall under Sheldon Keefe last year, despite getting terrible goaltending and having their best defenseman miss half of these games, while their second best defenseman was out as well for a good portion of them.

It is also worth noting that the Leafs were one of the NHL’s best teams in games where Michael Hutchinson didn’t start last season, and that their loss in the playoffs was one of the flukiest things to happen in the history of the NHL.

While last season was super disappointing for Toronto, keep in mind that with even a league average back-up goalie and Frederik Andersen being as good as he was in any other season of his career, and the Leafs probably still have Mike Babcock as their coach after a top five regular season finish.

But I digress.

We want to know where the Toronto Maple Leafs rank in terms of the rest of the NHL, so let us look into it.