The Toronto Maple Leafs are tied with the Boston Bruins for the longest active streak of consecutive seasons making it to the NHL Playoffs.
After years of dominating the regular season and comfortably making the playoffs, only to be let down, a "show me in the playoffs" attitude has grown amongst the Toronto Maple Leafs fanbase despite all the changes to the roster and the coaching staff this past offseason.
While this mindset is understandable, there is no denying that this team is attempting to play a different style of hockey that is more conducive to playoff success, or so they say.
We are one-third of the way through the NHL's regular season, and the Maple Leafs are tied with the Florida Panthers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.
The Leafs have achieved this while having an injured list as long as a Walmart receipt.
With Auston Matthews, Jake McCabe, Max Domi, and Max Pacioretty recently returning to the lineup, I think it is time to check where analysts rank the Maple Leafs in the latest NHL Power Rankings and react to the movement and what people are saying about this team.
NHL 'Super 16' Maple Leafs Power Ranking: 9th
The 'Super 16' is a weekly power ranking series on NHL.com. These rankings are done on a point system, with the NHL having 15 of their analysts rank their top 16 teams, and the teams are ranked by who gets the most votes based on where they are voted.
This week, the Leafs are ranked ninth, down from the fifth place spot they were ranked in last week after losing to the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins and somehow stealing a win from the New Jersey Devils in overtime.
While this drop may seem harsh for a team playing with several key players injured and having the sixth-best record in the NHL, the analysts may be on to something here, as everything in the article is about the Leafs goaltending and how good the tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz have been.
While the goaltending has been a massive positive, Woll and Stolarz are hiding many underlying issues with this team, given the Leafs have a 57.61 goal share at five-on-five compared to their expected goal share of only 50.21.
This stat shows just how good both Woll and Stolarz have been, and this should be celebrated, given how poor the Maple Leafs goaltending has been in recent memory. However, it must be acknowledged that this team is struggling to produce offence, having a five-on-five shot attempt share and powerplay conversion percentage that ranks in the bottom third of the NHL.