The Toronto Maple Leafs finally put an end to their losing streak this past Tuesday, where they defeated the St. Louis Blues in overtime. The five game skid reached its end, but it still doesn't wash away what has been a rough season for the Leafs. The team is 9-9-2 for 20 points through 20 games entering Thursday, good enough for seventh place in the Atlantic Division. This is a far cry from their yearly expectations to be firm playoff contenders.
This is also the first year that the Leafs are without Mitch Marner. After nearly 10 years with the team, Marner was set to hit free agency and the expectation was that he was very much going to leave Toronto. That ultimately happened, as he was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, and signed an eight-year, $96 million contract. Even with Marner's absence, the Leafs were still expected to be a top team in the Atlantic, but thus far, that hasn't transpired.
In his latest 32 Thoughts column, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman couldn't help but tie the team's current struggles to Marner's absence.
Mitch Marner's absence tied to Leafs' early season struggles
"I’m not interested in re-litigating the past, but it’s impossible to look at their current struggles without recognizing the connection to his departure. Marner was everywhere: gobbling up points, getting it to Auston Matthews, entering zones, power play, penalty-kill, defending leads and a huge part of the off-ice social construct. They are still adjusting, and if the first six weeks taught us anything, it’s that this may take much longer than everyone hoped," writes Friedman.
If there was one thing that Marner brought to the Leafs, it was the ability to score goals or set things up for captain Auston Matthews. Sure, Marner did get fair criticism for his struggles in the playoffs, but there's no denying what he can do on the ice on a game-to-game basis in the regular season.
Marner is showing the Leafs and the fanbase just that in Vegas. Through 19 games, Marner has four goals and 17 assists for 21 points. Marner's point total is second behind Jack Eichel's 24 (eight goals, 16 assists).
Friedman mentions that the Leafs were looking for a "top six forward" during the offseason, but ultimately nothing came to be. Let's not forget that the free agency pool was dried up after all the top options, mostly from the Florida Panthers, opted to re-sign to continue their run to a dynasty.
The team's struggles aren't helped by the fact that they are dealing with plenty of injuries. Matthews was out since Nov. 11 due to a lower body injury suffered on a hit from Boston Bruins defender Nikita Zadorov. Nicholas Roy and Scott Laughton are also hurt on the forward group. Oh, and defenders Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo are on the injured reserve.
There are still over 60 games left for the Leafs to play this season, so that's plenty of time for this iteration of the roster to get on the same page. Even though the odds of Marner staying last summer were incredibly slim, the Leafs can't help but wonder if they'd be struggling as much this season if he stayed.