The Toronto Maple Leafs are officially in a slump.
After losing in overtime last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs have lost five of their last seven games.
On paper, it sounds terrible.
But in reality, results fluctuate wildly in the NHL, and there is no point in being upset about it because from October 27th to February 9th, the Leafs went 28-6-2 and won over 80% of the points available to them.
No team is that good, and thus, the cost of regression to the mean is that you lose a bunch of games you would normally win.
This team had two of it’s best games of the year in the days following the end of their hot streak. They definitely deserved to win last night, and while the St. Louis game could have gone either way, they certainly didn’t play too badly.
If you win 80% of your games over a 3 and a half month period, you are probably due for some results you didn’t deserve, since the only way to win 80% of the games for any kind of extended period is to win a whole bunch of games you likely shouldn’t have.
Toronto Maple Leafs are Doing Fine
Jack Campbell was the best statistical goalie in hockey for 12 months. He’s due for a regression, just like the team. But he’ll be fine, and the Leafs don’t need a goalie or anything. (naturalstattrick.com).
Ilya Lyubushkin had a rough debut, but he will likely be fine.
Auston Matthews had three points and ten shots. At the end of his career he’ll be able to count the games he played this well and lost on one hand.
The Leafs really don’t have anything to be upset about – they’re in sixth place, their playoff dates haven’t changed (it’s still going to be TB or FLA) and hey, it may be better to get the slump out of the way now instead of later.
Unfortunately, the results of the game must take a back seat, because this morning the Toronto Maple leafs announced some terrible news about their top prospect, Rodion Amirov.
Statement from Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Kyle Dubas regarding Rodion Amirov’s medical condition.
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 23, 2022
There really is nothing you can say about this, other than we hope for the best for him.
We get so worked up about the results of a game that we often forget about the humans playing it. At least because of his association with a world class professional hockey team, we know that Amirov will receive the best possible treatment.
As for the team, who cares? They’ll play, and we’ll do our best to enjoy it. The human side of the game can be rough, but maybe at least it can remind us that the things we get so worked up about don’t really matter too much beyond entertainment reasons.
All of us here are thinking positive thoughts and wishing him the best.