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Toronto Maple Leafs Will Get Worse Before Improving

By Oliver Smith

TORONTO, ON - MAY 31: Auston Matthews #34 and Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs take to the ice to play against the Montreal Canadiens in Game Seven of the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on May 31, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Canadiens defeated the Map[le Leafs 3-1 to win series 4 games to 3. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - MAY 31: Auston Matthews #34 and Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs take to the ice to play against the Montreal Canadiens in Game Seven of the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on May 31, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Canadiens defeated the Map[le Leafs 3-1 to win series 4 games to 3. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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Overall, to start the season, major Toronto sports teams are a paltry 3-7-1 and while hockey and basketball are on opposite ends of the spectrum, the Toronto Maple Leafs and The Raptors are mirroring each other’s play.

Yet the core difference between the Raptors and the Toronto Maple Leafs is that for one this was expected, while the other is supposed to be competing.

Some picked the Raptors as a potential dark horse to scrape into the playoffs, or at least be in contention at the business end of the season, but many looked at it as a mini rebuild.

The Leafs on the other hand, were projected as one of the best teams in hockey – and it is hard to argue that fact based on singular talent alone.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Will Get Worse

The Leafs have one of the best goal-scorers of all time on their roster (ignoring that a certain No. 8 is winding back the clock down south), a right winger judged to be the best RW in the NHL last season, and the arguably the best 2nd line centre in the entire league in John Tavares.

Then of course there is William Nylander who is no slouch and based on the last 15 games dating back to last season the Toronto Maple Leafs have played, is playing the best hockey out of all four.

However this season, that elite goal scorer cannot score, that No.1 winger seems to still be suffering mentally from their playoff exit; their captain, try as he might cannot will this team over the line and other winger has mostly been a non-factor.

As we all know, with this team, if those four aren’t performing then there is little hope for the organization. Previously those slumps didn’t coincide and when they did they had a stellar Dane in the net to mask the issues.

If you had the chance to listen in to TSN 1050 this morning you would have heard caller after caller after caller rant and rage against nearly all of the Toronto Maple Leafs roster. There were some personal attacks on players and their livelihoods outside of hockey that were uncalled for, but generally most of the criticisms about the play of the team was fair, even if its still only seven games into the season.

Everyone got swept up in the Jack Campbell run last season and turned on an injured Freddy Andersen, including a number of dedicated EIL readers – where do you stand now? Campbell is a solid NHL goalie but is he a bona fide starter on any other contending team?

Jake Muzzin, TJ Brodie and almost all of the forward group have been non-factors, save for Michael Bunting who has been giving it his all on the ice. Nothing is working out. Sheldon Keefe has chopped and changed lines to no avail. For all calling for a massive roster change, in-season trades of that nature are rare beyond belief. That is not even considering the salary cap complications as a result.

If the season doesn’t improve then there will inevitably be the Morgan Rielly storyline and quite frankly there is only one option when it comes to an elite, as of yet unsigned, defenceman on a team that isn’t contending.

Forget the Sheldon Keefe hate stewing for a second in the city because there is a certain amount of venom directed towards Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan.

Yet before you explode for the umpteenth time about contract this and contract that. When Dubas was extending those contracts, and analyzing where the league would be in four, five, six years after signing everyone was projecting the cap closer to $90 million. COVID enforced a flat cap and there is nothing the Toronto Maple Leafs can do about it, and no way they could have predicted it.

Next. Marner Continues to Struggle. dark

In an alternate universe the Toronto Maple Leafs would be totally fine. They would have cap flexibility, they would have the money to spend on Free Agents, and they could afford to keep their best players.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the eye of the storm and it won’t get better soon.

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