The Toronto Maple Leafs are not playing to potential right now, and there are a few things that bring concern.
The Toronto Maples Leaf are currently 2-2-0, with a fairly easy schedule on paper: Senators (W), Habs (L), Capitals (W), and Coyotes (L). In the process, there have been a few issues that arose but, thankfully, they appeared early in the season.
The obvious one is the health and durability of Matt Murray, where the injury-prone goaltender is back on the shelf for 4 weeks despite playing only two games. To be honest though, the Leafs knew what they were getting, they can’t be surprised, and they probably don’t mind the cap space.
In the most recent game, the Arizona Coyotes defeated the Leafs 4-2 off a red-hot powerplay and a lackluster shot selection by the Leafs.
Toronto Maple Leafs Early Season Adversity
On top of this, the Leafs bombed many shot attempts by shooting wide and the Coyotes seemed to be able to keep them to the outside of the zone, leaving little to no room for scoring chances.
The Leafs have not displayed the side that can win checking games where they can score in different ways yet, and this is against teams who are not Cup contenders. If this continues, the team may be in trouble when playoff-level teams play the same way the Coyotes did against them. It is early in the season, but in a division like the Atlantic, a rough start could make or break the season.
. I am sure Sheldon Keefe thinks that his team will always dominate the zone play for most if not all of the game (which they do), but the shooting and the follow up is not there. From what I see, they tend to cycle in the zone until a scoring chance opens up (which is expected), but sometimes they play way too passive to create chances instead.
As stated, the problem is that the Toronto Maple Leafs can’t seem to consistently find that chance. For example, the first line dominated in the O-zone against the Coyotes early in the game. Usually, this type of shift ends in one of three ways: 1. a goal, 2. a penalty for, and 3, an icing call. The Maple Leafs got none of these.
Thankfully, this is VERY early in the season so this isn’t too concerning. As the coaching staff and the roster polish their game, they will begin to look and play like the Stanley Cup Contenders many analysts and odds-makers believe them to be (second best with +800 via NBC Sports)
. Once they polish up offensive zone play and stop being so dependent on the cycle and becoming predictable while doing so, there won’t be any worries.
Next game: vs Dallas, Oct. 20.