5 Predictions for the Rest of the Toronto Maple Leafs Season
The Toronto Maple Leafs are having one of the best regular seasons in franchise history.
Not only are the Toronto Maple Leafs competing for a second straight division title and the first President’s Trophy in franchise history, but Auston Matthews is leading the league in goals, and trying to win the team’s first post-expansion Hart Trophy.
A fun part of being a sports fan is making predictions on how teams or players will perform in any given season. Doing so as a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs takes things to a whole new level.
Every prediction made by fans or the media receives either praise or scrutiny. Sometimes they will receive both. No matter what, it is all just part of the fun. The majority of predictions get made before the start of the regular season.
Other predictions happen close to the trade deadline as fans and media speculate on what teams will do. Teams will either be looking to upgrade their rosters for the playoffs or trade expiring contracts for future assets.
Making predictions on how well a team or player will finish the season is also fun. Here are a couple this site made earlier in the season. These are my five bold predictions for the end of the 2021-22 season.
1) Toronto Maple Leafs Set New Record for Wins
Toronto has never won 50 regular-season games in a season.
This seems crazy for such an Original Six Team, but it’s true. They came close in the 2017-18 season when they won 49 games. With 31 games left in the regular season, Toronto only needs to win 17 more games to reach the milestone of 50 wins.
If Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas can upgrade the team’s defense by the trade deadline, it should improve their chances of reaching 50 wins or higher.
Considering that the Leafs currently have 33 wins in 51 games, it would take the most epic collapse in a franchise known for epic collapses for them to avoid hitting 50 wins.
2) Toronto Maple Leafs Set New Record for Points
In setting a new franchise record for wins, I believe Toronto will also set a record for most points in a season.
The current record is 105 points which Toronto set in the 2017-18 season. For the Maple Leafs to surpass 105 points, they will need to record 36 points in their remaining 31 games, putting them on pace to do this fairly easily.
A team with this much firepower should win 18 out of 31 games. Considering that Toronto only lost 18 of their first 51 games is impressive. Out of those 18 losses, 14 were in regulation, so I don’t think they will lose more than 13 in their final 31 games.
3) Auston Matthews Will Score 50 Goals This Season
Auston Matthews is the NHL’s current goal-scoring leader with 36 goals in 48 games. If he plays in all 31 remaining games, he is on pace for 59 goals in 79 games.
That, however, is a pace that includes an early season scoring slump, due to a combination of bad shooting luck and post-surgery recovery. In his last 31 games Matthews has 29 goals. If he stays healthy, 50 goals is an absolute slam dunk. (Note all stats are correct prior to last night’s game).
With the rate that he is scoring at, I think reaching 50 goals is more than achievable. The true question is, can he score 60?
If he can score 55 goals, he will set a new Toronto Maple Leafs franchise record for most goals scored in a season. The current record is 54 goals by former Toronto captain Rick Vaive. He set the record during the 1981-82 season, when it was much easier to score goals.
4) Auston Matthews Will Win His Second Rocket Richard Trophy
If Matthews can continue to score at his current pace, he should win the Rocket Richard trophy. If he does, he will be the third player to win it in back-to-back seasons. The goal-scoring race is a tight one right down. Matthews is only one goal ahead of Leon Draisaitl and two goals ahead of Chris Kreider.
5) Jack Campbell Will Set Franchise Record For Wins
If goaltender Jack Campbell can get back to his early season form, he could set a new franchise record for wins in a season. The current record is 37 wins and is shared by Ed Belfour and Andrew Raycroft.
Campbell currently has 23 wins, so he will need 15 more wins to break the record. With just 31 games left, it will not be an easy task.
If he plays well enough and the team keeps him in, he will have a good shot. The Toronto Maple Leafs will need to play Campbell in 23-25 games to have a real chance.
While it is true that Campbell has struggled since December, I think he’ll right the ship and get back to form. Campbell was the NHL’s best goalie for the calendar year of 2021, and while goalies tend to be the most inconsistent NHL performers, I think he’s shown more than enough in his time in Toronto to get the benefit of the doubt.
Next. Leafs Top Prospects and System Overview. dark
As much as I would love to see all five of these predictions come true, I will settle for 3/5 of them. Predictions are always a fun thing to do. Some come true, and others are too unrealistic to come true. Either way, I hope you enjoyed my predictions.