Toronto Maple Leafs: Top 5 Players in All-Canadian Division
The All-Canadian Division is stacked with talent, but the Toronto Maple Leafs have the best team in the division.
On paper, the Toronto Maple Leafs should run away with the All-Canadian Division and be well on their way to their first playoff round win since 2004. However, on paper doesn’t mean anything.
In every sport, there’s a favorite and a team that’s supposed to win. No matter the point-spread or odds in Vegas, any team can win any game. Just look at what happened in the New York Jets vs. Los Angeles Rams game the other day.
The Jets were 0-13 facing a 9-4 Rams team and were a 17.5 point underdog on the road. New York could lose by two touchdowns and a field goal (!) in a professional football game and could still cover the spread. That’s insane.
However, you know what happened? The Jets won. They tore the soul out of every fan by winning because now they have a lesser chance at the number-one pick. So even though the Leafs are the clear favorite, don’t start planning the Stanley Cup parade yet. We’ve seen this team lose year-after-year, so although it should be a good ride, you have to be a skeptic.
The reason the Toronto Maple Leafs are the clear favorite in the first place is based off talent. They have the best top-six of any team, their defense got much stronger and they have a true number-one goalie in Freddie Andersen. You can make an argument that Andersen has been a reason for their demise over the past few seasons, but when he’s playing his best, he’s a top goaltender in the NHL.
He finished fourth in Vezina Trophy voting just three seasons ago, so he has the ability to be one of the best in the league, and will definitely be one of the best in the division.
So how does all this talent stack up against the rest of the NHL? Here are the top-five best players in the All-Canadian Division.
#5. Mitch Marner
You can’t deny how talented Marner is. In his first 300 NHL games played, he has 291 points. Being a point-per-game player is incredibly difficult, but Marner is a point-machine.
The Markham, ON native got a lot of flack during the Qualifying Series, because he didn’t score a goal, though the team got goalied, what can you do? He’s only 23-years-old and has already recognized that he needs to make scoring goals more of a priority. Within this All-Canadian Division, I think there’s a chance that Marner hits 75 points in a 56-game sprint.
For whatever reason, Marner’s season last year doesn’t get talked about enough. Maybe it’s because the pandemic stopped it short, or that Auston Matthews and William Nylander were so dominant, but Marner had an outstanding campaign. In 59 games, he finished with 67 points. That’s a 94-point pace in an 82-game season, which would have matched his point total from the year before.
Marner is going to score 100-points in an NHL season and is going to compete for the Art Ross Trophy for years to come. Who knows if he’ll end up getting it this year, but I think he’s going to lead the Leafs in points and be a force in this Division.
#4. Connor Hellebuyck
Spoiler alert, but this is the first of two Connor’s we’ll be talking about today. As easy as it would be to leave a goaltender off this list, I couldn’t dare do this to the Winnipeg faithful.
In his last three seasons, Hellebuyck has finished top-two in Vezina Trophy voting, including winning the award last season. He’s arguably the best goaltender in the world right now and could make the Winnipeg Jets a dangerous team in a 56-game sprint.
At 26-years-old, Hellebuyck is still young, compared to when goaltenders typically hit their prime. You usually see a netminder hit their stride in their late 20s and early 30s, but clearly he’s ahead of his competition. With a .922 save percentage, 2.57 goals against average and six shutouts, he was the clear pick to win the Vezina last year. After the Jets’ defensive-core was dismantled in the off-season, Hellebuyck was brilliant and arguably the only reason why they made the Qualifying Series.
Locked into a $6.166M contract for the next four seasons, the Jets hit the jackpot with that deal. Right up there with Nathan MacKinnon, his price-tag could be the best bang for their “Helle-buyck” in the NHL. Sorry, not sorry, for that pun.
#3. Leon Draisaitl
Imagine being the Buffalo Sabres and living with the fact that they picked Sam Reinhart over Leon Draisaitl in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft? And then one year later they missed out on Connor McDavid too! That hurts.
Draisaitl’s 2019-20 season was incredible. After McDavid went down with an injury, Draisaitl still led the team towards a great regular season, before getting upset in the Qualifying Series. In 71 games played, he had 43 goals, 67 assists and 110 points. His 1.54 points per game average was a remarkable pace and it’ll be interesting if he can put those same numbers up again this year.
Paired up with McDavid most nights, the two are a dominating duo, but still haven’t had much playoff success. Similar to Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, for whatever reason it hasn’t translated when the games count. Despite that, he’s still one of the best players in the NHL and of course within this division.
Draisaitl won a lot of hardware last season, winning the Art Ross Trophy and Hart Trophy. Although he was voted as the most valuable player in the NHL last season, I don’t think that’s going to happen again next year. Speaking of which…
#2. Auston Matthews
Maybe it’s a bias, but I’d rather pick Matthews over Draisaitl if I were starting a team tomorrow. “Papi” is two years younger and in my opinion, a better all-around player. It’s also a statistical fact.
Matthews’ defensive-game is a sight to watch. His ability to stick lift his opponents is something I will never get sick of. Match that with an unbelievable release and you’ve got yourself one heck of a hockey player.
Matthews has never achieved 50 goals in a season before, but was on his way to doing that last year. He was on pace to finish with 55 goals, which would have broke the Toronto Maple Leafs franchise record and probably would’ve been good enough for a Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. When you compare him to Draisaitl, the German native may have more points in the past two years, but in their first four years, Matthews was better.
Draisaitl’s first and only 50-goal season came in his fifth season, which Matthews will be entering this year. After learning the league, players stats seem to sky-rocket as they get into their fifth season in the league, so I would expect Matthews to have a monster year this year.
I’ll be putting a large sum on Matthews to win the “Rocket” Richard trophy this year, as well as the Hart Trophy. Just you wait and see.
#1. Connor McDavid
Close your eyes, Leafs fans, it’s July, 2026. McDavid had just won his fourth Hart Trophy, but has yet to make it to a Stanley Cup Final. The Leafs have just won their third straight Stanley Cup Finals but have cleared cap space for McDavid to come home. McDavid is finally playing for the Leafs.
Okay, that’s a little bit of a stretch, but can you imagine?!
McDavid is clearly the best player in the NHL and I don’t want to hear anything else. I know MacKinnon is ripping up the league, Sidney Crosby is still relevant and his partner in crime just won the Hart Trophy, but there’s nobody more electric than McDavid. His speed and vision is something that can’t be taught and when he’s on his game, he’s unstoppable.
Just ask Morgan Rielly. McDavid made the Toronto Maple Leafs best defenseman look like one of those pylons the team uses in practice. He made one little crossover and was gone. It was a disgusting move and one of nicest goals Scotiabank Arena has ever seen.
McDavid’s career point totals are gross. To compare him to Marner, who went fourth overall in the same draft class, he’s 178 points ahead of him, in 51 more games played. Jack Eichel (who went second overall) has played four more games than McDavid and is still 132 points behind him (via: hockeydb.com).
When his career is over, he’ll probably end up with 500 more points than anyone else, which is insane. The talent class in his draft was good, and he’s still lapping the field.