The Toronto Maple Leafs will finally play some hockey today.
The NHL Pre-Season kicks off today with the Toronto Maple Leafs playing the Ottawa Senators in a pair of split-squad games.
The first begins this afternoon at 1PM.
The second tonight at 7PM.
Toronto Maple Leafs Begin the Pre-Season
The Leafs haven’t played since losing to Tampa in the playoffs last May.
This summer they once again changed their starting goalie (last year they went from Freddie Andersen to Jack Campbell) and made some changes at the bottom of their lineup. For the most part, however, the Leafs will be returning with the same roster they had last year.
That roster finished 4th overall despite some of the worst goaltending in the NHL. This year’s roster figures to be even better since Auston Matthews isn’t coming off of wrist surgery, and John Tavares is also fully healthy (last year he was recovering from being knocked out against Montreal).
Though there is worry about the goaltending, the Toronto Maple Leafs enter the 2022-23 season with the best roster in the NHL and as the favorite to win the President’s Trophy, Stanley Cup and Atlantic Divisions.
The Leafs are easily Canada’s best team, and are due for some post-season success.
Our two rosters for tomorrow’s preseason games vs. Ottawa 📄
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) September 23, 2022
We have 5 pairs of tickets up for grabs for the 1pm game! Like & reply for a chance to win👇 pic.twitter.com/Rtyz9EY7j6
Both of today’s games will take place in Toronto, and both will be televised.
The rosters (listed above in that tweet) will both feature a couple of stars, and neither will feature Matt Murray, who Sheldon Keefe said won’t play till Wednesday.
In the 1PM game, you can see John Tavares and Mitch Marner. Marner will be looking to pick up where he left off last year, when he used the last half of the season to ascend into the “best player alive” conversation.
If there is anyone who can challenge Connor McDavid for the Art Ross Trophy, it’s Mitch Marner, who led the NHL in points after he returned from injury in mid-January of last season.
In the 7PM game, Auston Matthews will make his debut, and so will Nick Robertson.
Matthews, who scored 50 goals in 50 games last season, and finished with 60, will easily set a new career high in goals if he plays all 82 games. In fact, 82 goals are not out of the question, and if he gets really lucky, who knows, maybe Gretzky’s 92 goals are on the table.
Probably not, but if you’re a Leafs fan, you’ll definitely want something to help you from just looking ahead to the playoffs. The pre-season starts today, and hopefully, the first steps towards an eventual championship will be taken.