The Toronto Maple Leafs might have stolen a win against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, but it isn't enough to keep them off Santa's nice list. With Christmas being less than two weeks away, that's a good thing.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been better than expected this season, and almost all of that is thanks to stellar goaltending. Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll have formed the best tandem in the NHL. However, there are still plenty of areas on the Leafs that could use some fixing.
From defensemen to secondary scoring, there are at least a few items on the Leafs wish list this Christmas. Head coach Craig Berube and general manager Brad Treliving hope Santa will be generous this year.
So, what should be on the Christmas wish list for Treliving and the Maple Leafs? More importantly, are the items on their wish list available or only a dream? Let's look at what should be on their wish list for Christmas 2024.
Toronto Maple Leafs Christmas Wishlist
Health
Jani Hakanpaa, Fraser Minten, Auston Matthews, Max Domi, Calle Jarnkrok, Jake McCabe, Max Pacioretty, Bobby McMann, David Kampf, and Joseph Woll have all spent time on injured reserve or long-term injured reserve this season, and we're only in December. Overall health in the new year would be nice.
Another Defenseman
The top pairing of Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe has been the best pairing the Leafs have had at least since Tomas Kaberle / Brian McCabe, maybe longer, but after that it's been kind of rough.
Defensemen Conor Timmins, Simon Benoit, and Philippe Myers have done an okay job rotating in and out of the bottom pair, but the Leafs second pairing of Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson has under-performed. For a long Stanley Cup playoff run, the Leafs need to add at least one more top-four (preferably a star) defenseman.
Secondary Scoring
The Leafs are simply not getting secondary scoring from the players expected to do so. Max Domi hasn't scored a goal yet through 20 games. Max Pacioretty (2), Pontus Holmberg (2), and Nick Robertson (2) have combined for six goals. Connor Dewar, Ryan Reaves, and David Kampf all haven't scored this season. More production is needed from the bottom six.
Continued Success in Net
As of Thursday morning, Anthony Stolarz (9-5-2, 2.13 GAA, .928 SV%) and Joseph Woll (7-3-0, 2.20 GAA, .919 SV%) are in the NHL's top five for GAA and SV%. The Leafs will need both goaltenders to stay sharp in the second half of the season. (Stats from hockey-reference.com)
Productive Power Play
The Leafs have the fifth-best penalty kill in the league at 83.0%, but their power play is 19th at 19.3%. Staying healthy should help as Berube and assistant coach Marc Savard can put together two power-play units that can be productive. The power play and penalty kill need to be at least top ten by playoff time. (Stats from NHL.com)