The Top 3 New Year’s Resolutions for the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been destroying the NHL over the last two months.

Despite leading the NHL In man games lost due to injury, and the quality of those injuries (as of December 16th) the Toronto Maple Leafs enter the new year at the top of the NHL.

At the time of this writing, the Leafs are in 3rd place, nine points back of a Boston Bruins team that refuses to ever lose.

It’s been an impressive first half for the Leafs, but they’ve been here before.  For this team, it’s the Playoffs that count, and not much else.

Still, there is a lot to enjoy as the calendar turns over. For the Toronto Maple Leafs, New Year’s Day has historically been an important one.

This year, with the goal of progressing beyond the first round of the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup, the Maple Leafs would benefit from some New Year’s resolutions.

There are many things that they would want and could use. These are the franchise’s top three resolutions on their quest to playoff success.

The Toronto Maple Leafs First Resolution

The Toronto Maple Leafs first resolution is also one that they and their fans could get very excited about.

Their first resolution is to make a big splash on the trade market and ameliorate their team by adding a player of significance.

Gone are the days when the Leafs can augment their team for depth and specific skills. This team has more depth than any team in the league, and so only significant upgrades will make a difference. That means that the Leafs can’t just make a trade to improve their team, but they must make one for a star player.

There are a number of players who the Leafs may likely chase. Coach Sheldon Keefe would love to add more scoring to his lineup, after getting shutout offensively in the playoffs year after year.

One area that could use an upgrade is left wing. Calle Jarnkrok has been fine filling in on the second-line, but he’s not who the team wants in their top-six once the Leafs enter the post season.

The team and its fans will be much more comfortable with a name-brand allstar patrolling the left wing.

The NHL trade deadline is March 3. As that date nears, so too does the expectation for the Leafs to make their big move.

The Leafs Third New Year’s Resolution

The Leafs third resolution is for them to continue to play as well as they were heading into the holiday break.

At the time of writing this, the Leafs have won three games in a row, and have only lost two regulation games since November 12th.  They have only lost three times in regulation since October 30th.

Sure, the Bruins are an unstoppable force that cannot be tamed, but the Leafs are holding their own.  Eventually Boston has to crack, and hopefully the Leafs can then make up some ground in order to avoid yet another first round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In 25 games leading into the short pause, the team was 17-3-5. Toronto’s firing on all cylinders. Their big four, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner, have all been producing.

In fact, while Auston Matthews hasn’t been as incredible as he was last year, Marner and Nylander are both having career seasons, giving the Leafs 3 x Franchise Players on their roster.

Even with the all the injuries to their defense core, the Maple Leafs steadied the ship and continued racking up wins. They’ve done so even though Matthews hasn’t been scoring at the torrid pace he was on last year. He’s been playing well this year, it’s just not going to be a history-making campaign for him individually. Luckily for the Leafs, it doesn’t need to be.

Happy New Year to all the Maple Leafs fans. May 2023 be the year that the Leafs end their Stanley Cup drought.