In their first season under head coach Craig Berube, the Toronto Maple Leafs seemed to finally carve out an identity, a team that blended structure, grit, and skill in a way that resonated with both fans and critics.
As Year 2 unfolds, the numbers tell a different story. Beneath a comparable, but somewhat flattering record to the 2024-25 season, lies a confusing mix of statistics that paint a team both dominant and vulnerable, with commanding performances and chaos.
The data suggests a club that defies definition, a statistical paradox, an enigma, that leaves even the most-seasoned observers wondering who, exactly, the Maple Leafs really are.
While the Leafs' record and place in the standings are not drastically different from this time last season, how they got there is confounding.
What the Numbers Say About the Leafs
The Maple Leafs can still score goals. During the Auston Matthews era, Toronto has consistently been a top goal-scoring team. They lead the league with 52 goals scored and their 3.71 goals per game ranks second behind the Anaheim Ducks.
Missing from Berube's first season behind the bench is a consistent defensive structure and solid goaltending. The Leafs have given up 50 goals against, tied for seventh-worst in the NHL. Their 3.57 goals-against per game ranks fifth-worst league-wide.
While number-one netminder Anthony Stolarz has started to show signs of emerging from an early-season fog, his numbers are well off last year's stellar first season in Toronto. His even-strength save percentage is .898, tied for 38th. In only four of his eleven starts has he had a .900 save percentage.
A traditional strength, the Maple Leafs' power play has been atrocious. Thus far, their success rate of 11.8% ranks 30th. The good news? They had a similar start with the man-advantage last season before regrouping to finish 14th at 23.0%. Countering the slumping power play is a strong penalty kill. The Maple Leafs' 83.3% success rate when down a man puts them 11th in the league.
The Leafs' stars have yet to ignite the power play, but they have improved their even-strength play. The team currently has the top three scorers at even-strength. William Nylander (18), John Tavares (16), and Matthew Knies (16) are two points clear of the nearest competition in even-strength scoring.
Period-by-period scoring reveals more perplexing anomalies for the Leafs. They are a minus-one in first-period scoring (12 goals for, 13 goals against). The Maple Leafs are minus-eight during the second period (13 goals for, 21 goals against). The second-period goals against total is second-worst in the NHL.
Those mediocre-to-poor first and second period splits are opposed by strong third-period numbers. The Maple Leafs have scored a league-best 25 goals during the final stanza, while giving up only 15 against for a plus-ten differential. In 2024-25, the Leafs scored the second-most goals in the NHL during the second period and were a plus-twenty in that period. Last season, they were a plus-nine in third-period scoring.
The Maple Leafs' 2025-26 inconsistency has shown during individual games and from one game to the next. The Leafs have arguably their two worst periods of the season during a recent game against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, trailing 3-0 after two, with single-digit shots on goal, before reversing course with a dominant third period led by Matthews and Nylander to pull out a 4-3 victory.
They looked disinterested in a humbling 6-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, but strong in a solid road victory over the Philadelphia Flyers and in a home win over the Utah Mammoth. The Maple Leafs are also on a current run of letting the opposition score first in seven straight games.
One night, the Maple Leafs look like potential contenders; the next, their flaws resurface in frustratingly similar ways. The numbers reflect that duality, elite in stretches, middling in others, leaving little clarity about who this team really is.
As the season unfolds, the question isn't just whether the Leafs can find consistency, but whether they can finally define themselves in a way the stats have yet to capture.