When injuries started to rear their head, the Toronto Maple Leafs looked primed to make a move to add some depth to their forward group.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, and the need for the Toronto Maple Leafs to acquire some additional depth no longer looks necessary thanks to a run of impressive results.
Nick Robertson’s regular season debut with the team was cruelly cut short after a hit against the Ottawa Senators resulted in a knee injury, with a four-week timetable for his return.
In the very next game, veteran Joe Thornton suffered a fractured rib in a hit along the boards that saw him given a four-week layoff, leaving the Leafs suddenly scrambling to reassemble lines and call up players from the taxi squad.
Further Additions Unnecessary for Toronto Maple Leafs
With the Leafs losing two members of their roster in successive games, it suddenly led to plenty of speculation that general manager Kyle Dubas was exploring the market for possible moves that would add to the team’s current corps.
This made sense at the time, as there were concerns that if more injuries began to emerge then the Leafs would find themselves struggling in what was shaping up to be a very competitive North Division.
Six games have now passed since Thornton’s injury, and the Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves in a very strong position that now suggests they do not need to make any new additions, at least not right now.
The Leafs currently sit atop the all-Canadian division with an 8-2-1 record, going 5-0-1 in the games that Thornton and Robertson have missed, facing off against the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. (All stats via Hockey Reference).
During that stretch, the team has outscored their opponents 25-17 thanks to the core of the team’s offense continuing to perform to expectations, with the ‘big four’ of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander all currently leading the team in points.
But, it is also thanks to the likes of Wayne Simmonds and Jason Spezza contributing important goals, including a hat trick for Spezza against the Canucks last night.
With the season now around a fifth of the way through, there’s still plenty of hockey yet to be played, and the potential to add new faces could very well still be on the mind of Dubas ahead of the trade deadline in April.
However, with both Thornton and Robertson not too far away from returning, having skated together earlier in the week and starting to approach that four-week timeframe, right now may not be the time that the Leafs add anyone new to the team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are performing well, though could do with tightening up defensively as four of their last six games have been decided by a single goal and may have tipped in the oppositions’ favour had their main men not been at their best.
Now, though, the team is performing well enough to not need to consider adding new offensive players, especially since the return of Thornton and Robertson will have the same effect as bringing in new faces, but with the added bonus of the players in question already knowing the system and not needing to isolate before taking to the ice.