Toronto Maple Leafs player ratings in NHL 25
To celebrate the launch of NHL 25 and the new hockey season the ratings for the Toronto Maple Leafs players. The Leafs have seen a lot of changes, both in personnel and in their player ratings.
Every year since 1991 the EA Sports team has released an NHL video game. Every year, as far as I can remember, people have complained about rosters and player ratings. So, what other way to honour this tradition than to do the exact same, but specifically for the Toronto Maple Leafs?
As someone who has played every year since NHL 06, I thought it would be fun to take a look at this year’s iteration of the Maple Leafs and see how each player is rated and give my thoughts on what I would change, if anything.
I have decided to take it by each position and go over each player in the starting roster from forwards to goalie. I will not be touching on potential unless I feel it is notable.
Forwards
Many have felt that Leafs brass did not do enough to bolster the Maple Leafs forwards but it does not show in the ratings with many players
Auston Matthews - 95
Matthews is undeniably one of the best players in the NHL today and he fittingly has a great rating here. No complaints.
William Nylander - 91
After three straight seasons above 80 points and especially after scoring 40 goals and almost 100 points, Nylander rightfully gets a bump to 91. I always felt he was a little under-appreciated by EA but glad to see him up at 91.
Mitch Marner - 91
Leafs nation’s favourite player to hate, Marner at a 91 feels a little low. He is clearly a better player than Nylander and should be slightly higher. He is consistently on pace for 100+ points while providing some of the best defensive value for a winger in the game. I feel his London Knight’s number 93 is a good rating given his skillset.
John Tavares - 87
As much as it pains me to admit, 87 is probably in the right ballpark given his slight decline last year. He is still undoubtedly a great player but is past his prime now.
Max Domi - 85
85 is probably slightly too high given his skillset. He is not good defensively and although he seemed to mesh quite well in the Leafs’ top-nine he was a sub-50 point scorer but he does have some bit. I feel a more appropriate rating would be an 83-84.
Matthew Knies - 84
This seems fair if not a tad high, he scored only 35 points and does have a nice powerforward game with some good puckskills which undoubtedly helps his rating. I would personally put him at an 82-83 but he could earn this rating by season’s end.
Calle Jarnkrok - 82
This seems about right given the same size of him being a 35-40 point player for most of his career while playing a forechecking role. His versatility also needs to be taken into account but 82 seems fair and I would even say an 81 would be adequate as well.
Nick Robertson - 82
The contract stalemate ended and the trade request is rescinded... For now. This is a good rating, despite what many seem to think Robertson should be able to rack up points consistently in the NHL and I’d suspect him to be at least a 40-50 point guy throughout his prime if given the right opportunity. Even last season in limited usage was on pace for 20+ goals and roughly 40 points over an entire year. The only major complaint is that EA still has him listed as a center.
David Kampf - 82
Although Kampf is utilized as a shutdown center against good competition, which I think merits a decent overall in and of itself, his production is quite poor having never hit 30 points. I think an 80-81 overall suits him more but an 82 is not bad if his defensive and physical game is what makes up the bulk of this.
Pontus Holmberg - 80
This seems fair, Holmberg is a legitimate NHLer and although his production has not shown it, his utility as a center/wing with his forechecking ability and defensive game makes this rating seem fair. The only issue I have is that they list him as a “playmaker” but I would make him a “two-way forward”.
Connor Dewar - 79
79 is about where I’d put Dewar as a guy who has been a strict 4th line forward who is yet to pace 20 points in his career. His speed, forechecking, and defensive game are really his only strong attributes at this time.
Bobby McMann - 78
I think this is too low. He scored at a similar rate to Robertson last year and has shown some ability to play up the lineup. I would put him at 80-81 personally.
Ryan Reaves - 76
This is fair as a player who’s main attributes are intangibles and his enforcer style.
Defensemen
The Leafs defensive group saw many changes and I feel is raited relatively fair all things considered.
Morgan Rielly - 88
Morgan Rielly should not be a “two-way defenseman” at all and should be an “offensive defenseman”. His rating likely also lowers if his defensive category gets lowered so I feel an appropriate overall is about 86.
Timothy Liljegren - 84
This seems fair if not a little high, he has shown he can play in a top-four role quite well but the sample size is not large. An 84 is good but an 83 would have been my guess for his overall.
Chris Tanev - 84
An 84 seems fair given he is one of the league’s better shutdown defenders. I would probably bump his up by one to an 85 but an 84 is not bad for a stay-at-home defender.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - 84
This rating seems a little high given his struggles in roles higher up the lineup and he is on the wrong side of 30. I would probably put him at an 82 as he seems to fit best in a number four to six role.
Jake McCabe - 83
An 83 is probably a little low for McCabe and I would probably bump him up to an 84 or an 85 at most. He has good physicality and has shown an ability to play a defensively-minded two-way style in a legitimate top-four role.
Jani Hakanpaa - 81
After a loong summer of "will they, won't they?" the Leafs officially signed Hakanpaa to a contract a few weeks ago. He is an almost exclusive shut-down third-pair defenseman and a penalty kill specialist. An 81 seems okay but an 80 would also do just fine given he has very little to give on the offensive side of the game.
Conor Timmins - 80
An 80 is not bad for Timmins but may even be a little high. For my money he has shown an ability to play a puck-moving third-pair role well but has mainly been utilized as a seventh defender. For that reason, I lean more towards 79 or 78.
Simon Benoit - 79
Benoit has shown himself to be an admirable third-pair physical defensive defender. I think a 79 is good for that role, no real complaints.
Goalies
The Leafs goaltending tandem seems like one of the best tandems we have seen in years (where have we heard that before?) but the ratings do not seem to reflect this.
Joseph Woll - 83
Given his sample size, an 83 seems fair for Woll. Though, I suspect this could be higher in future updates should he continue on his current performance level. I would not be surprised if he is up to an 84 or 85 by season’s end.
Anthony Stolarz - 82
This seems slightly low given he was the games best back-up goaltender statistically speaking last year. He has looked quite good over the last few years and I suspect this is more of a sample size issue, similar to Wol l expect we could see this go up to an 83 or 84 if all falls right.
Matt Murray - 80
The Matt Murray redemption arc is a lovely story but given he did not play a single professional game last year and had his share of struggles the previous few seasons, I think a 79 or 78 would be better for Murray. He has the potential to be a great example of perseverance but from what we have seen, I think an 80 is a little too high for right now.
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Overall, the game does a decent job with the ratings, and with a few exceptions seems to be fairly accruate.