The Toronto Maple Leafs have put together a strong season to date, as they sit atop the Atlantic Division with a 27-15-2 record. It sure feels great to be ahead of their main division rivals for once.
Though the most surprising part of it all was the fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs have managed to do it despite being ravaged by injuries, along with the fact that some players were still not performing at their absolute best as of yet.
But with the latter half of the NHL season now upon us, it is now the perfect time for some of those players to breakout and even take the Maple Leafs to the next level.
As a result, let’s take a look at 3 Maple Leafs players that are poised to have a huge second half in the coming months to help lead the team to success.
3 Toronto Maple Leafs Players Poised For a Breakout in the Second Half of the NHL Season
Matthew Knies
After posting a solid rookie campaign in 2023-24, Matthew Knies was looking to follow it up with a strong sophomore year with the Leafs this season. At the start of the regular season, Knies was proving exactly that when he tallied 10 goals and 6 assists for 16 points in his first 23 games played.
However, he endured one of his worst slumps of the season, and perhaps his professional hockey career, when he only managed to register one goal and two assists in a span of 14 games from the beginning of December to the start of January of 2025.
But Knies is too good to be slumping for so long, as he has recently busted back out with a hat trick, five-point night against the Boston Bruins on January 4. Since then, he has continued to produce, compiling 5 goals and 3 assists in his past five games while looking to be on the verge of a huge breakout. With Leafs captain Auston Matthews now back and healthy and Knies maintaining his spot on the top line, a huge second half with a potential 60-point plus season shouldn’t be out of the question now for the blooming 22-year-old winger.