The Toronto Maple Leafs season is less than 10 days away and the storylines are already exciting.
The 2020-21 Toronto Maple Leafs season is going to be unlike any other we’ve witnessed. Not only is it going to be a 56-game sprint, but the team will only be playing six different opponents until the playoffs start.
There will be no rematch of the 2017 NHL Playoffs with the Washington Capitals. There will no Sidney Crosby game or a Drew Doughty “Canadian Revenge Tour.” The team won’t have to answer any questions about the Boston Bruins or Tampa Bay Lightning finishing ahead of them in the Atlantic Division.
Instead, the Toronto Maple Leafs will play the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks for a combined 56 games. And you know what. I’m jacked up for it.
The All-Canadian division is going to be incredible. Every time the Leafs faced a Canadian team in the past, it was exciting, but now it’s even more intense. The Leafs can’t afford to take a break when they head to the West Coast anymore because these are the teams they’ll be fighting against for a playoff spot. The rivalries with the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens have always been there, but I’d expect some new animosity to rise with the four teams that were previously in the Western Conference.
Now that NHL training camps have officially opened up, things are getting real and the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t hold anything back during their first press conference of the season.
Here are the top three storylines from the first day of training camp: