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How the Current Maple Leafs Stack Up Against the 1993 Leafs

By Andrew Kogut

TORONTO - JANUARY 31: Toronto Maple Leafs players stand on the ice before the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Air Canada Centre on January 31, 2009 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They wore the #93 jersey of Doug Gilmour, whose jersey was raised to the rafters in a ceremony before the game. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
TORONTO - JANUARY 31: Toronto Maple Leafs players stand on the ice before the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Air Canada Centre on January 31, 2009 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They wore the #93 jersey of Doug Gilmour, whose jersey was raised to the rafters in a ceremony before the game. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 4: Jason Spezza #19 of the Toronto Maple Leafs  .(Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

2021 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

Centre

Auston Matthews, with 32 goals in 40 games, is scoring on a pace this season that would put him in the top-three for goal scoring…in 1992-1993. That was a season that featured eleven 40-goal scores, nine 50-goal scores, three 60-goals scorers and two 70-goal scorers. Last year, five players hit the 40-goal plateau. And nobody else eclipsed that. Yep, Matthews is having a spectacular season.

John Tavares steps into the John Cullen role, leaving the likes of Pierre Engvall, Alex Kerfoot and Jason Spezza (for faceoffs) to fill in for Zezel, McLlwain and Eastwood. The latter three didn’t do so well in the 93 playoffs (combined 3 goals, 3 assists, minus-11 in 34 total games played) so the bar is set pretty low and any one of Engvall, Kerfoot or the newly acquired Riley Nash has a prime opportunity to make a splash come May.

Left Wing

If Ilya Mikheyev could score on only a fraction of his seemingly endless breakaway and point-blank chances then he would most likely be approaching Andreychuk-esque numbers this year. Unfortunately, Mikheyev has managed just six goals and has been stoned more often than a Vancouver college student.

At least Zach Hyman is bringing it. He has been a force on the top line and while he’s no Andreychuk, he may be able to fill in as a sort of Clark-lite. Sunday night’s acquisition of Nick Foligno, who should slide somewhere in the top-six and add elite defensive and physical elements to complement all of that skill, was sorely needed, despite the high cost. Alex Galchenyuk andJoe Thornton give the Leafs really nice depth here as well.

Right Wing

The 2021 Leafs may be lacking some scoring on the left side but things just may be all right. Mitch Marner sits in a three-way tie for 4th in league scoring with 54 points in 44 games and the often maligned (but now confined) William Nylander, with 30 points in 39 games, is still tied for the most points of any player with similar ice-time (16:23 or less) this year (Flyer Joel Farabee has 30 points in 16:14).

Wayne Simmonds and the surging Jason Spezza are veteran players who have the capacity to play some meaningful playoff minutes. This is a very strong group.

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