The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a 5-4 loss in a barnburner to the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday night, dropping their 2026-27 record to 3-3-1.
This record is fine, all things considered, as their 7 points thus far has them tied with Montreal for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and just one point out of third place in the Atlantic Division.
Despite currently not being in a playoff spot, the Toronto Maple Leafs should be satisfied with how things are going so far this year, and with a much easier month of November coming up, that could be the prime opportunity for the buds to make their move.
Here's why their start has been fairly promising to begin this new season.
Maple Leafs off to promising season start despite loss to Utah
The Leafs are checking off a lot of important boxes early in this young season. Auston Matthews and William Nylander are truly playing like the superstars they are, Gavin McKenna is looking better and better each game, and Easton Cowan has taken a strong step forward in his development.
New key additions Darren Raddysh and Kirill Marchenko have shown flashes of brilliance, and will only get better as the season goes on.
The Leafs as a whole also rank 10th in goals scored in the entire NHL, pretty impressive considering they only scored six times in their first three games. On top of this, the Leafs also have a top-5 power play in the NHL, sitting at 29.2%, as well as quietly holding the league's top penalty kill at 95.8%.
The Leafs schedule:
One thing that needs to be mentioned is the Leafs schedule to open up the 2026-27 year, as through their first seven games, they've only played two non-playoff teams from last year.
The Leafs will also finish October having completed two major road trips, a three-game trip against the Avalanche, Golden Knights and Mammoth (which they completed on Tuesday), and a four-game trip out west to take on the Oilers, Flames, Kraken, and Canucks.
It's not the easiest start, but once the Leafs get out of October, November is much more smooth-sailing. Their schedule features 13 games in the 30-day month, leaving lots of time for rest. As well as a six-game home stand to kick off the month, and 9/13 total matches at home in the month.
Travel-wise, it's a much easier schedule for the Leafs in November, and they have a huge opportunity to make up some ground in the ever-competitive Atlantic division.
Area of concern:
Much like last season, the Leafs' biggest area of concern has been their goals against.
Both Anthony Stolarz and Sergei Bobrosvky have shown they can steal a game this season when at their best, but their play needs to be much more consistent. The Leafs gave up 11 goals on their recent three-game road trip, and giving up that many goals can't happen that often if they want a serious chance at a cup.
The Leafs also rank 30th in the NHL in expected goals against thus far, despite only being 20th in actual goals against. This is a bit of a concern for me.
We learned in the Craig Berube-era that goaltending can only bail you out so many times, and as much as I love "Bob" and "Stollie" as the tandem, you can't expect them to stand on their heads every single night.
With that being said, I'd much rather have a team that can rally from a 3-0 deficit on any given night, with one of the league's best power plays and a group of forwards who can score with the best in the league, than a team who struggles to score more than twice a game despite having amazing defensive numbers.
The defensive struggles are a concern, but I feel confident in Jim Hiller and John Chayka to make the changes needed to make those fixes.
It's been a fun season so far as a Leaf fan, and I can't wait for what the next few weeks have in store.
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