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Toronto Maple Leafs Beat Buffalo, Continue to Make Roster Moves

By James Tanner |
TORONTO, ON - APRIL 12: Tage Thompson #72 of the Buffalo Sabres skates with the puck against Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on April 12, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Sabres defeated the Maple Leafs 5-2. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - APRIL 12: Tage Thompson #72 of the Buffalo Sabres skates with the puck against Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on April 12, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Sabres defeated the Maple Leafs 5-2. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs scored three times before the Sabres even had a shot.

The Toronto Maple Leafs newest acquisition had a hattrick.

The second line had 13 points.

Mitch Marner had 5 assists.

It was quite the night.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres

If THIS is the Ryan O’Reilly the Leafs get, oh man, what a pick up.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of this move because I think the Leafs should add an elite player, not a slightly better version of Nick Foligno.

It would appear my concerns are groundless, as after three games, O’Reilly has three goals and five points.  The peripheral numbers are impossible to get a read on, since the Hawks game was so crappy and the Sabres were down 3-0 before they got a shot (the Leafs essentially stopped trying until it got close), but so far, so good.

The Toronto Maple Leafs may be in fourth place overall by points percentage, but they have picked up 67.2% of all points available to them, and that is good enough to sometimes win the President’s Trophy.

Considering they are in a division with Tampa and Boston (not to mention Buffalo, Detroit and Ottawa are no longer punching bags) their record is even more impressive.

With O’Reilly, the Leafs in the playoffs will be almost impossible to play against when they run Matthews-Tavares-O’Reilly-Kampf/Acciari down the middle.

They also have eight elite *(or close)* defensive forwards (Matthews, Marner, O’Reilly, Engvall, Kampf, Kerfoot, Aston-Reese, Jarnkrok) which is going to make holding leads pretty easy for them. (stats from naturalstattrick.com).

This is, without a doubt, one of the most balanced, deep teams in the NHL.  They have five elite scorers, six if O’Reilly can keep it up, and their blue-line might lack the #1 on par with their main competitors, but not of those teams are scratching anyone close to as good as Conor Timmins.

The crazy thing here is that the Leafs have the assets and the cap flexibility to add another superstar level player, if they want to.

They should want to.  It would be a waste not to give this group every chance they can get to get over.  The addition of a Jakob Chychrun or an Erik Karlsson would be insane.  You couldn’t even talk about how good the roster would be at that point, because even the most modest takes would sound like hyperbole.

Also, Jake Muzzin is done for the year.

Also, Joey Anderson is on waivers, where he will most likely get claimed.  Does this mean another trade is pending? Maybe!

dark. Next. O'Reilly Still Looks Like a Star

The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to win the Stanley Cup this year.  It’s about time.

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