The Toronto Maple Leafs have had another solid season so far and thanks to a Florida Panthers loss just minute ago to the Senators, they have officially clinched a spot in the 2022-2023 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs with 9 more games left in their season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have gone through some ups and downs this season, but have generally had more ups, finding themselves typically hovering between 4th and 5th in the NHL overall.
This year saw the Leafs offensive game take a slight decline from their numbers last year, but their defensive game has taken a more significant jump. The Leafs are finding ways to grind out wins they normally would lose and are holding onto leads in close games more often than normal, which hopefully will stay true through the playoffs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are currently positioned for a rematch of last year’s series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The ultimately fell just shy of a first-round win once again but will be hoping to change that up this year. The series last year featured some questionable reffing, but more notably there were some mistakes made that can’t be made in playoff games and the secondary scoring came in lower than it needed to.
Toronto Maple Leafs Build for the Playoffs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping this year can be different and have made trades leading to the trade deadline to try and give their team a better chance.
The team added some key playoff performers in O’Reilly and Acciari, while adding on defense with McCabe, Schenn and Gustaffson coming in as well. Lafferty joins the team too, as a speedy forward who can hopefully help to convert some chances into secondary scoring, although we have yet to see him produce at a similar rate to his start to the season in Chicago.
This season the Leafs showed that hockey is a business by shipping out both Sandin and Engvall. Both players were big losses to this team, but ultimately the shift to more physical defensemen and upgrades up front left them being victims to the salary cap. It’s always unfortunate to lose players, but the team is hoping the new players can help bring a new dynamic to the team and be the X-factor needed for a long playoff run.
Ultimately we will find out in the playoffs if the moves the Leafs have made and the work they have put in will pay off, but the first step to having success in the playoffs is clinching a playoff spot, and now the Toronto Maple Leafs have made that first step. Let’s hope it’s the first step of many this season.