3 Toronto Maple Leafs players that could disappoint this 2024-25 NHL season
Which Maple Leafs could fail to meet expectations this year?
Heading into the 2024-25 NHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have assembled a new coaching staff, together with some newcomers to mix in with their usual core players from last year to help give some new, refreshed hope in their quest for the Stanley Cup.
As they begin to grow accustomed to each other and the entire process, the Toronto Maple Leafs will look to the new approach and structure implemented by head coach Craig Berube in leading them to consistent winning and potential long-term success.
So far, we have got a good taste of what Maple Leafs hockey will be like for the coming season from what we have witnessed during their first four games of the 2024-25 season.
As much as the Maple Leafs players have worked hard to impress while putting in their absolute best effort on a nightly basis, there is bound to be a few players that could underperform over the course of the year.
In doing so, they could ultimately have some effect on the team’s overall success in the end.
As a result, we will take a look at three Maple Leafs players that could disappoint for the 2024-25 NHL season.
3 Toronto Maple Leafs players that could disappoint this 2024-25 NHL season
Joseph Woll
Following the departure of Ilya Samsonov to free agency during the offseason, Joseph Woll took over the reigns of the Leafs crease by default when he was quickly re-signed to a three-year, $11 million contract. Despite the limited number of games that he has played in the past couple of seasons, Woll has nevertheless shown some great promise whenever in game action. In 36 career NHL games, he has posted a solid 21-13-1 record with a 2.76 GAA and .912 save percentage.
However, one lingering caveat rests on the fact that he has shown to be quite injury prone in his brief NHL career thus far. Last season, Woll suffered a high ankle sprain that ended up putting him out of action for over two months.
Later on, when helped the Leafs to a potential spirited series comeback against the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he would sustain an injury once again that prevented him from playing the critical Game 7. As a result, the Leafs fell just short and would go down to their nemesis once again.
This season, the year hadn’t even started yet when Woll would again be hit by the injury bug, this time being a lower-body injury. At this rate, he is beginning to give off some Matt Murray vibes.
The only difference though being that Murray had captured the Cup twice before running into his slew of injuries, whereas for Woll, it is already happening very early in his career. Many were expecting Woll to take the Leafs net and run away with it this season. However, it appears as though expectations should be tempered as Woll may not be able to live up to them if he continues to have trouble staying healthy,
John Tavares
Time sure flies when it felt like it was just yesterday that the Leafs brought home John Tavares in free agency to boost the team’s chances of fulfilling their Stanley Cup dreams. Now already into his last season of the seven-year contract that he signed back during the 2018 offseason, the Maple Leafs unfortunately have yet to reach the Holy Grail.
Since joining the Leafs, Tavares has always been a point-per-game player that he has been throughout the majority of his 15-year NHL career and counting.
However, last season marked the first time in over 13 years that he was scoring at a lower than 0.82 ppg pace. More significantly, Tavares was almost became a non-factor during the 2024 playoffs, registering just one goal and one assist for two points over the seven-game series against the Bruins.
Now at 34 years old, Tavares isn’t getting any younger as his foot speed will eventually catch up to him, given that he wasn’t already that fast to begin with. Added to the fact that his flanks appear to be primarily Max Domi and William Nylander this season, the defense for the line could become a worrisome matter as the season progresses as they could potentially find themselves having trouble getting out of the defensive zone.
As a result, the offensive production of Tavares for the 2024-25 season will likely come primarily from his power play time and therefore, could end up being severely limited compared to his usual standards.
So far in two games this season, he has posted just a 43 CF% in 5-on-5 situations, which is substantially lower than his usual 51-53 CF% in previous years. With his overall effectiveness due for another regression in 2024-25, this could be the last season that we see Tavares in a Leafs uniform.
Auston Matthews
Some would probably find it surprising to see the Leafs superstar in this category. After all, Auston Matthews has been phenomenal for the Leafs ever since making his debut with the club back in 2016.
Just taking a look at his accolades, he has captured the Hart Memorial Trophy, Calder Memorial Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award and the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy three times, along with scoring 60+ goals and 100+ points in two of his past three seasons. More importantly, Matthews may just be entering his prime, so the best is yet to come.
However, one thing that has been different for him this year was the fact that he had finally been given the Leafs captaincy ahead of the 2024-25 NHL season. With the new leadership role comes new responsibilities and pressure to ensure that the team was performing to expectations.
With more to think about in his mind and the extra burden on his shoulders to lead the Leafs to success, it could have somewhat of an effect on his overall play on the ice. (All salaries from puckpedia,com and all stats from hockey-reference.com and naturalstattrick.com)
Matthews has become a Selke-worthy elite defensive forward and now Berube has him killing penalties as well. It is possible that Matthews becomes a more defensive player who scores less as time goes on, and it's possible that playing on the PK will get him injured.
With the new approach and mentality, Matthews could potentially have his lowest goals and points output in years this season, as this could be the year he is converted into Steve Yzerman 2.0.
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So we may end up missing his offensive production and daring moves on the ice, but if in return it can help the Leafs bring home the Cup just like Yzerman did for the Detroit Red Wings, then the Matthews disappointment might still be worth it.