The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to win the Stanley Cup this year.
I have many predictions for the upcoming season, but that’s the main one: 2024 will be the year the Toronto Maple Leafs finally break the curse and win their first Stanley Cup since the NHL expanded beyond six teams back in 1967.
While I have spent much of the summer criticizing the Leafs off-season moves (They made a needlessly stupid decision to move on from Kyle Dubas, then spent $20 million dollars and didn’t get a guaranteed star player, are currently over the salary cap, have a brutal blue-line, gave 3 x years to an enforcer, and haven’t dealt with the William Nylander thing).
Doesn’t matter.
A team with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander (or whatever he turns into) and two young and cheap high-ceiling goalies is going to go far.
Their prospect system is primed to produce a several impact players, and I believe they’ll find a way to fix and/or live with their blue-line.
Here are the rest of my predictions for the upcoming 2023-24 NHL Season.
Predictions for the Toronto Maple Leafs 2023-24 NHL Season
Predictions for Auston Matthews seem awfully low. 50 Goals? If he sleeps half of every game he can score 50 goals. A healthy Auston Matthews is all but guaranteed to score 50 goals.
A solid prediction is that with Tyler Bertuzzi and Mitch Marner creating an absolutely bonkers first line, Matthews scores in almost every game he plays. If Keefe starts giving him the full two minutes on every power-play and he adds another 5 short-handed goals now that he’s killing penalties, Matthews could score over a goal per game.
He did it for 50 games, getting about half the PP minutes he could have, and not killing penalties. I will slightly hedge my bets down from an earth shattering 82 and offer a legitimate number I think he can actually hit – i.e an honest guess at his real goal total – and that guess is 77 goals, which will obviously win him the Rocket Richard Trophy.
I also predict the Leafs will trade William Nylander for a defenseman, that Topi Niemela will be a top-four defender, and that the Leafs will win both the Atlantic Division and the President’s Trophy on their way to a 60 win season.
Mitch Marner is going to win the Art Ross with 150 points and he and Matthews both have career seasons and finish 1-2 in Heart Trophy Voting. While Matthews will get his second career Hart Trophy, Marner will take the Conn Smythe.
Did somebody say Vezina? It was me. I predict that not only will Joseph Woll steal the net, he’ll also hamburgler the Vezina.
The Leafs will re-sign Domi to a contract extension after he becomes wildly popular. I predict this will be a mistake, but no one will care due to all the winning and the trophies and parades etc. ]
My final prediction before a dramatic outro, is that Nick Robertson will score 30 goals this year.
If none of this comes true, you can most likely find me outback behind the Zellers trying to explain to passing strangers that Blade Runner is not a boring movie!! I stake my entire reputation on the accuracy of these predictions.
Please enjoy the upcoming, and best yet, Toronto Maple Leafs season.