Things are looking up for the Toronto Maple Leafs after a pair of Swedish victories.
Not too long after fans and media were all over the team for their poor play amidst a four game losing streak, the Toronto Maple Leafs have put together four straight wins, and are 5-1 in their last six games (quanthockey.com).
Despite the recent turnaround in the fortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs, many questions remain. The biggest question is, can the Leafs win a Stanley Cup with their current lineup?
To answer this question, let’s start with the goaltending. The pre-season assumption was that Ilya Samsonov would be Toronto’s number one goalie, but Samsonov got off to a horrible start. He was pulled in the first period twice in his first seven starts, and was clearly struggling with his confidence. His last two starts (wins against Vancouver and Detroit) have been much better, but Samsonov will have to be consistently good for the Leafs to succeed this season.
Joseph Woll‘s season has been the opposite of Samsonov’s so far. Woll started the year strong before fading to mediocrity over the last couple of weeks. Woll will also have to provide more consistency as the season moves forward.
That gives us an answer of “maybe” to the question of whether or not the Toronto Maple Leafs goalies are good enough to win it all this season. How about the defense?
Toronto Maple Leafs Need Help on D
It’s obvious to anyone who has watched Toronto play that their defenders are not nearly good enough to anchor much of a playoff run.
Morgan Rielly continues to have a great year, but after that there’s a big dropoff. Veterans Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie are trying to provide veteran leadership, but too much playing time and too many mistakes are exposing the fact that these guys are well past their prime.
Jake McCabe has been average since his return from injury, and he was absolutely brutal before he was injured.
Timothy Liljegren was breaking out before he was hurt, but he likely isn’t ever going to be a star player. John Klingberg was almost unplayable before being taken out of the lineup with an unnamed injury. William Lagesson and Simon Benoit have been better than expected since their promotion from the Marlies, but they are not long-term solutions.
Stanley Cup contenders are not built with spare bits and pieces and replacement parts on the blue line. Adding someone like Chris Tanev from the Calgary Flames would be a good start, but general manager Brad Treliving will likely have to make three defensive upgrades before the Toronto Maple Leafs have a strong enough defense to even get a sniff at the Stanley Cup.
Finally, we have the forward group. Individually, the talent is there. The star power is producing, with Auston Matthews still on top of the league goal scoring race, and William Nylander riding a 17 game season-opening point streak. Matthew Knies is showing he belongs, Nick Robertson is playing well since getting called up, and Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi are finally getting comfortable. The fourth line has suddenly become playable since Ryan Reaves started eating popcorn in the press box.
However, collectively, the forwards are not yet firing on all cylinders. Some of this is due to the time it has taken for coach Sheldon Keefe to figure out who belongs on which line, but that issue seems to have been resolved at this point.
More concerning is the number of mistakes that continue to plague the team, especially when it comes to team defense. The Toronto Maple Leafs forwards don’t appear to be lacking effort. It’s moreso a lack of focus and cohesion that has resulted in Toronto’s 21st overall league ranking in goals allowed.
In summary, the Leafs need some defensive additions as well as improved play from the forwards and goalies already on the roster in order to have a realistic chance at competing for a Stanley Cup this season.