2022-2023 Toronto Maple Leafs Player Grades: Part 1 – Trade Additions

The Toronto Maple Leafs once again had a solid regular season, but ultimately failed to make a deep run in the playoffs once again.

The Toronto Maple Leafs made it past the first round finally, but the goal should obviously be bigger than that.

Still, it was a successful season. The Leafs were once again competing for the President’s Trophy, and ultimately finished fourth overall despite playing in, by far, the NHL’s toughest division.

For the fourth straight year, the Leafs were over a .600 points-percentage, and were a legitimate Stanley Cup Contender.

Though this summer will see major changes – there are ten free agents and a new GM – the Leafs will once again be a top contender going into next season.

With that said, let’s take a look at the players who played for the Leafs this season and grade them based on their performance.

Eligibility for player grades is based on having played 3 or more games with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season between the regular season and the playoffs.

This is the first part of 5. In this article, we will be going through players the Leafs acquired throughout the 2022-2023 season. (Stats from naturalstattrick.com and  NHL.com).

Toronto Maple Leafs Player Grades #1. Ryan O’Reilly

Stats with the Leafs:

Regular Season:

Games Played: 13

Goals: 4

Assists: 7

Playoffs: 

Games Played: 11

Goals: 3

Assists: 6

xGF: 44.06%

Contract Status:

Pending UFA (capfriendly.com). 

Overall Thoughts:

Ryan O’Reilly was brought in to be a difference-maker for the Leafs to close out their season and ultimately in the playoffs as well.

He got off to a hot start with the Leafs, scoring a hat trick in just his second game with the club but the rest of his season wasn’t as good unfortunately.

I’m sure breaking a bone in his hand and having to spend time out of the lineup didn’t help either, but O’Reilly isn’t at the same level he was when he led the Blues to a Stanley Cup.

O’Reilly was mainly used on the third line and had different linemates almost every game it seemed.

O’Reilly had stretches of solid hockey with the Leafs, but ultimately his best hockey was played when paired with Tavares and Marner, a look we didn’t see much in the playoffs.

O’Reilly still had 9 points in 11 playoff games (with three of those points coming in one game, however) and scored a clutch goal to force overtime in the first round, but ultimately seemed pretty quiet in the second round.

Normally when a player doesn’t fully do what they were brought in to do, they would receive a grade lower than a C+, especially with a negative xG%, but due to his clutch goal and still pretty solid point totals while being misused, he has landed as a C+.

O’Reillly is still a good hockey player but should be used in a proper role with consistent linemates. I don’t expect that he will be back next year, but if he is, he needs to be paired with a skilled forward, whether that be Marner, Knies or maybe even Robertson.

#2. Sam Lafferty

Stats with the Leafs:

Regular Season:

Games Played: 19

Goals: 2

Assists: 4

Playoffs:

Games Played: 9

Goals: 1

Assists: 2

xGF: 44.73%

Contract Status:

1 more year at $1.15M

Overall Thoughts:

Sam Lafferty has the potential to be a solid depth player for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but many people overestimated him leading up to the trade deadline.

The speedy depth forward isn’t afraid to throw the body, and has landed some solid hits in his time with Toronto.

Many times throughout the regular season and playoffs since being acquired by the Leafs, he was unnoticeable though, or even made some costly mistakes.

Lafferty was mainly deployed in defensive situations, but wasn’t able to find the same offensive success he was having with the Blackhawks.

Lafferty seems like a player to me that will benefit from having a full season with the Leafs and a consistent linemate, but at only $1.15M, if things don’t work out with the Leafs, he should be easy to dump or bury.

#4. Luke Schenn

Stats with the Leafs:

Regular Season:

Games Played: 15

Goals: 1

Assists: 0

Hits: 60

Playoffs:

Games Played: 11

Goals: 0

Assists: 1

Hits: 54

xGF: 57.62%

Contract Status:

Pending UFA

Overall Thoughts:

Luke Schenn is an interesting player to try and grade.

It was cool to see him come back to the team he started out with but ultimately hockey and what he brings to the table is more important than the sentimental value.

While being known for being the “Human Eraser”, Schenn laid a lot of hits and fairly decent ones too, but ultimately his regular season stint with the Leafs led much to be desired.

Schenn seemed like a liability on the ice and it seemed like there were at least 8 better options on the back end to play. Come playoff time though, Schenn brought his game to the next level and had a major improvement.

Schenn not only was able to throw big hits and keep players out of the crease, but also had a 57.62 xGF% in the playoffs. Now it’s important to give credit to his partner, Morgan Rielly, who had an impressive playoff run, but Schenn still played some decent hockey in the playoffs.

With that said, he injured Samsonov, and while it was obviously unintentional, the plays leading up to his dive could have possibly prevented him from needing to dive. I wouldn’t mind Schenn back with the Leafs in a depth role, but would prefer someone with a bit more skill moving the puck up the ice.

#5. Jake McCabe

Stats with the Leafs:

Regular Season:

Games Played: 21

Goals: 1

Assists: 4

Hits: 41

Playoffs:

Games Played: 11

Goals: 0

Assists: 2

Hits: 47

xGF: 47.88%

Contract Status:

2 more years at $2M per season

Overall Thoughts:

Jake McCabe was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs along with Sam Lafferty and with his salary half retained he comes in at a reasonable $2M per season.

McCabe despite being in the league for some time now found himself playing his first playoff games. I found that McCabe made some mistakes that an experienced playoff defender wouldn’t typically make.

Overall McCabe is better than Holl, who counted for $2M against the cap. McCabe should prove to be a valuable player especially at his cap hit for the Leafs next season and with one year of playoff experience I’m sure he will look even better next playoffs.

McCabe overall had a decent season with the Leafs. It’s worth noting that McCabe was paired with Brodie, who was overused heading into the playoffs leading to him not looking like his normal self.

This in effect unfortunately effected McCabe’s game and for that reason McCabe’s grade shouldn’t be as low as his xGF%. Expect McCabe to be a physical two-way defender for the Leafs this upcoming season.

#6. Erik Gustafsson

Stats with the Leafs:

Regular Season:

Games Played: 9

Goals: 0

Assists: 4

Playoffs:

Games Played: 2

Goals: 1

Assists: 0

xGF: 64.64%

Contract Status:

Pending UFA

Overall Grade:

B+

Overall Thoughts:

The Erik Gustafsson trade never really made all that much sense to me.

From day one it seemed unlikely that Gustafsson would become a mainstay on the blue line. We saw that as he only suited up for 2 of the 11 playoff games the Leafs had.

This isn’t to say Gustafsson was a bad player, but he was often overlooked.

Minus a few mistakes, Gustafsson’s play on the Leafs was quite solid.

Sure his 64% xGF% is likely inflated from the small sample size, but Gustafsson’s offensive skill was definitely noticeable.

Gustafsson is a solid player who unfortunately wasn’t given a proper opportunity with the Leafs and will now likely walk to free agency.

#7. Conor Timmins

Stats with the Leafs:

Regular Season:

Games Played: 25

Goals: 2

Assists: 12

Playoffs:

N/A

Contract Status:

2 more years at $1.1M

Overall Thoughts:

Conor Timmins was traded to Toronto in November as a buy low option.

Timmins was coming off of a conditioning stint and would have needed waivers to play in the AHL so Toronto traded for him as they were thin on the blue-line due to injuries.

Timmins made a quite impressive mark early and seemingly kept creating offense, finding himself racking up points.

Timmins earned a 2 year extension with his play and helped swing momentum in the Leafs’ favour whenever he was on the ice. Timmins unfortunately didn’t get much opportunity after the trade deadline, as deadline additions pushed him out of the lineup.

When he found himself back in the lineup it was as a forward. Timmins has a lot of potential and due to extra bodies on the back end wasn’t given the proper opportunities towards the end of the season.

Regardless of him not being given a fair shot, he deserves a high grade for his work when he was on the ice, especially when compared to the expectations on him.

#8. Dryden Hunt

Stats with the Leafs:

Regular Season:

Games Played: 9

Goals: 1

Assists: 0

Playoffs:

N/A

Contract Status:

Pending UFA (Calgary holds his rights)

Overall Thoughts:

Dryden Hunt was acquired from the Avalanche in exchange for Denis Malgin after it became clear the Malgin experiment wasn’t working.

Ultimately Hunt looked solid for his first game with the Leafs but really wasn’t able to make a difference at the NHL level for the Leafs.

This led to him being waived and spending 15 games with the Marlies, scoring 9 points, before being traded to Calgary at the trade deadline.

Ultimately Hunt didn’t work out with the Maple Leafs either but that was likely in part due to the depth options that surpassed him. Hunt’s time in Toronto was rather bland, but hopefully his decent stats in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies and Calgary Wranglers land him an NHL gig somewhere.

These are the player grades for the players who the Leafs acquired throughout the 2022-2023 season. Keep an eye out as we still have player grades coming out for the Toronto Maple Leafs forwards, defense, goalies and even players who were traded away throughout the 2022-2023 season.