Toronto Maple Leafs: Definitely Not a True Contender This Season

Like it or not, the Toronto Maple Leafs are definitely not a true contender for the Stanley Cup this season.

At stages this year, it’s hasn’t been completely implausible to suggest that the Toronto Maple Leafs are elite and were indeed a real chance at going all the way.

However, a combination of factors; namely a meteoric slump in the goaltending and a real penchant for letting teams back into games that should long be over, means this team will be lucky to break it’s first-round curse.

Offensively, there is little doubt that the Toronto Maple Leafs live up to the hype. The team wouldn’t be ranking fourth in goals per game otherwise; but that’s only part of the story.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are Frustrating

The biggest frustration is the sheer fact that the team is dominant in some areas. A league-leading powerplay and top-5 penalty kill is usually a good sign. For the Leafs, they’re wasting their impressive special team play by conceding way too many goals during five-on-five play.

Likewise, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the league’s leading goal scorer and a top-five point scorer this season in Auston Matthews. His contributions too are wasted.

Perhaps more telling is the fact that the team should have seven players with 50 points or more by season end. Matthews, himself, will likely top 100 points. This should be the mark of a true contender. Rather it’s the mark of another potential first-round exit.

In years gone by, the cries were for greater depth scoring; this year, the Toronto Maple Leafs have gotten that. Jason Spezza, Ondrej Kase, David Kampf, Pierre Engvall and TJ Brodie are all at or above the 20-point mark.

Among goalies with 5 games or more in 2022; the Leafs duo of Petr Mrazek and Jack Campbell rank 51st and 57th worst in teams of save percentage. They average 3.34 and 3.63 goals against per game in 2022.

Those numbers aren’t about to win anyone a playoff round, let alone a Stanley Cup. Yes, the team can out-score the problems to some degree but when things tighten up in the playoffs; that sort of goaltending will see the Maple Leafs swept.

Some of the blame absolutely must fall on the goalies, but only so much. The defense needs to be dragged over the coals too for not giving their goalie the sort of support they require.

Jake Muzzin’s concussions play a part, but can’t be held to blame. Justin Holl was struggling alongside him before the head knocks came into play.

Morgan Rielly is the same player he always been and is having a great season with regards to point production. Unfortunately, the injury to Muzzin has seen TJ Brodie rotated around the line-up rather than operating solely as Rielly’s defensive safety net.

The addition of Ilya Lyubushkin was certainly a step in the right direction with clear signs that neither Rasmus Sandin or Timothy Liljegren are about to offer a physical presence in front of their goalie.

Travis Dermott meanwhile seems to be the forgotten man and you might expect to see him traded away from Toronto sooner rather than later.

Perhaps the big annoyance is that despite the improvements on the penalty kill, the defense doesn’t show the same cohesion or focus on protecting the net at five-on-five. It feels like they’re missing a key element; namely coaching of a clear-cut defensive strategy. Statistics courtesy of NHL.com/stats.

Perhaps this is as far as this current Toronto Maple Leafs roster can actually go. Perhaps, they’re built for the free-flowing first half of the NHL season, but beyond that, lack the consistency and commitment to eking out one-goal wins that is required of the second-half and playoffs.

If they can’t turn things around soon, expect another miserable spring Toronto Maple Leafs fans.