The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a great place.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have tons of cap flexibility, a Hart Trophy, most of their best players are still really young, and they are on the verge of getting a major boost from three young players who are now ready for major roles with the team.
Things couldn’t be better.
I mean, I guess they could have won a playoff series, but that will come with time. The fact is, the Leafs have picked up a ton of experience and character with their recent run of playoff failure, and that will only help going forward.
They were the 4th best team in the NHL last year, and they did it while getting the 27th best goaltending. That means it isn’t even a concern that they don’t currently have a goalie, because they didn’t really have one last year either. (i.e anyone they get has a very high chance that they can manage to finish 27th best).
All of their best players will be back, and some are even due to take major steps, and that is where the Leafs will get a massive boost.
Toronto Maple Leafs Getting a Major Infusion of Talent in 2022
Top prospects are fun, but they take a long time to get ready. The Leafs have three great ones ready to breakthrough, and it’s now their turn to go from bit players to major pieces of the lineup.
Sandin, Liljegren and Robertson represent a major boost to their lineup, at what will likely be a very low cost. (Two of these players are RFAs, but don’t figure to get very big raises).
Timothy Liljegren was the Leafs best defenseman last year, and this year they’ll probably play him like it. Rasmus Sandin wasn’t far behind. They were both posting insane numbers prior to the acquisition of Giordano and Sandin’s knee injury. (The quoted stats below are from an old article I wrote before, but the stats come from naturalstattrick.com).
"In his debut season in the NHL, he finished with five goals and 23 points in 67 games, almost all of which was 5v5 production. 213 NHL defenseman played at least 500 minutes of 5v5 hockey, and Timothy Liljegren scored the 17th most out of all them, on a per/minute basis.Out of the 213 500 minute playing blue-liners, here is how Liljegren ranked:Corsi-For %: 23rdShots-For %: 20thGoals-For%: 30thExpected-Goals 3rd"
Players who post these kinds of numbers move to the tops of NHL lineups. While it’s very common to discount success of bottom-of-the-lineup players, this is because the NHL is a reputation-based business and always has been.
Some people dismiss these stats, but some people also fail to understand theoretical physics, it doesn’t make them any less valuable. In fact, these kinds of stats are now so accepted, and so common place, that the people who use call them “advanced” and try to disparage them are like 90s Grandmothers warning their kids about rap music – well meaning maybe, but a bit of a joke at this point. (At this point, referencing the “Corsi Cup” has to be the NHL equivalent of lamest guy you know making a horrible joke about the “interwebs”).
As hip hop became the most popular form of music, and the fears of the older generation came to be seen as silly, dumb, and (eventually) cute and hilarious, so too does the acceptance of these stats render their critics, who at this point are little more than keyboard warriors fighting a losing cause.
Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin won’t be bit players who are sometimes healthy scratched in 2022-23. They will be the Leafs two best defenseman. Their ascendance, as predicted by their elite numbers, will catapult the Leafs to as-to-now previously unthought heights and glory.
Add in Nick Robertson – who will eventually score 40 goals in the NHL – and the Leafs will be getting some major juice for next season.
By folding Robertson, Sandin and Liljegren into the fold of core players to go along with Rielly, Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander, the Leafs will be getting a massive boost going into next season.
Most teams probably don’t have three young players on the verge of stardom to add to a lineup that already has five or so star players. The Toronto Maple Leafs do.