Maple Leafs crack top 10 in NHL power rankings despite question marks

The Toronto Maple Leafs cracked the top 10 in the latest edition of NHL.com’s power rankings. The Buds landed in the ninth spot, one rung above the Washington Capitals who were ranked 10th.

While cracking the top 10 seems nice, the bigger question is, why aren’t the Maple Leafs higher in the rankings?

Perhaps a more elaborate question would be: Are the Leafs better than the teams ahead of them?

In my estimation, two issues emerge at this juncture.

First, the loss of Mitch Marner has skewed opinions about the Leafs across the league. It’s as if Marner was the only major player on the Maple Leafs’ roster. Yes, Toronto lost a 100-point scorer. But that’s 100 regular-season points.

How much are 100 regular-season points worth? Zero.

Just look at Sam Bennett. He’s a 50-point player at best during the regular season. Yet, he can kick it up in the postseason and earn the Conn Smythe Trophy. That’s something that most analysts are discounting. Marner’s absence, while noticeable during the regular season, will not be an issue in the playoffs.

With that in mind, we could venture to rank the Leafs higher even without Marner. But that would mean ranking the Leafs above the Winnipeg Jets and Tampa Bay Lightning. While there’s a clear case that the Leafs are better than the Lightning, could be it said that Toronto is better than Winnipeg?

That would depend on the criteria used to reach that conclusion. If we compare goalies, the Leafs have no chance in matching Connor Hellebuyck. But if we look at the overall club, the Leafs are certainly on par with the Jets.

The sixth-ranked team is the Colorado Avalanche. Are the Maple Leafs better than the Colorado Avalanche? That’s debatable. The Leafs have an all-world center in Auston Matthews while the Avalanche have Nathan MacKinnon.

The biggest difference lies in the Avalanche having Cale Makar and Devon Toews. That’s something the Leafs cannot match. Otherwise, the Leafs and Avs are eerily similar.

So, ranking the Leafs behind the Colorado Avalanche could be a reasonable assumption, considering that both clubs have strengths that offset one another.

Why Maple Leafs could be ranked lower than 9th

What about ranking the Maple Leafs out of the top 10? That argument could be made if we focus on the Leafs’ lack of an elite goalie. While Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll are solid enough, they’re not Sergei Bobrovsky and Igor Shesterkin.

Also, the lack of a bona fide number-one defenseman is something that could hold the Leafs back. I truly believe Morgan Rielly is one of the most underrated blue liners in the NHL. It’s hard to find another defenseman with his reliability and strong overall play.

But he’s not Victor Hedman or Roman Josi. But is that enough to rank the Leafs below the Washington Capitals?

The Capitals, while having Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson on their roster, have aging versions of those players. But even if we said Ovechkin and Carlson, at this stage of their careers, are better than what the Leafs have, we could argue they’re better than Toronto.

Beyond that, it’s tough to argue dropping the Leafs out of the top 10. The fact is that Toronto is a top-10 NHL club even with its flaws and absences.

If this new iteration can better mesh into Craig Berube’s philosophy, the Leafs could easily climb the power rankings throughout the season.