With the month of October almost done, the Toronto Maple Leafs have produced a mixed bag of results so far in their 2024-25 NHL season. They were off to a strong start, with solid defense and goaltending leading the way to their impressive 4-2-0 record in their first six games.
However, it appeared as though the effective system that had been working for the Toronto Maple Leafs had fallen a little apart in the past week. As a result, they had dropped their last three games, including a heartbreaker in overtime to the Boston Bruins this past weekend. In doing so, it has brought their record down to a more modest 4-4-1 record.
Looking back to this past offseason, the Maple Leafs actually lost many players that played a significant part on the team last season to free agency.
So how are those former Leafs players doing with their respective new teams so far this season? Would any of them have looked good had they stayed with the current Maple Leafs team? Let’s take a look at their performances thus far in the 2024-25 NHL season.
How are members of the 2023-24 Toronto Maple Leafs doing on their new teams?
Tyler Bertuzzi
Tyler Bertuzzi ended up being with the Leafs for just one season last year. Following a slow first half of the season, Bertuzzi’s game really took off after he was put on a line with Auston Matthews and Max Domi. In the end, he put up 21 goals, 22 assists for 43 points, which was his greatest offensive output since his career year in 2021-22 when he registered 30 goals and 62 points with the Detroit Red Wings.
With Bertuzzi looking for a bigger deal with term this time around, the Chicago Blackhawks signed him to a four-year, $22 million contract during free agency this past offseason. Given the opportunity to play with the likes of Connor Bedard and Taylor Hall, Bertuzzi has been a disappointment so far with the Blackhawks, recording just 2 goals in nine games played to date despite averaging greater than 16 minutes of ice time per night. That actually put him outside the top ten in team scoring with Chicago. He will need to pick up his game soon before he gets pushed further down the lineup as a result.