The Toronto Maple Leafs are set to hit New Years in first place in the Atlantic Division.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are having a successful first season under Craig Berube, but you'll excuse the most jaded fanbase in the history of the NHL if they don't care too much about such trivialities as the "regular season."
You see, this group has been together for the better part of a decade and despite putting together the longest sustained streak of competitive hockey in the Maple Leafs 100 year history, no one cares about about anything but success in the playoffs, which the Leafs have not achieved.
After 60 years of losing, and losing every single year since the NHL expanded beyond six teams (they now have 32) the regular season, for Leafs fans, is just one extremely long prolouge.
Still, fun can be had, and most of it comes in the form of the scoring race. Jaded Leafs fans may not cherish the regular season anymore, but even the worst of us would love to see Mitch Marner win the scoring title, which, is not completely out of the question.
Toronto Maple Leafs and NHL Scoring and Statistical Leaders Update
All stats from naturalstattrick.com and nhl.com and prior to last night's games.
Scoring Title
Nathan MacKinnon leads with 60 points. Marner is 6th with 50, the same amount as Connor McDavid. Right now MacKinnon's seven point lead on the next highest player seems insurmountable, but the season isn't even half over.
Goal Scoring
Leon Draisaitl, the current Hart Trophy front runner (he's got the best overall numbers in the NHL and has added an element of defensive responsibility to his game) leads the league with 24 goals.
Right behind him with 23 is Leafs superstar William Nylander. John Tavares 18 goals rank him 10th and Marner's 13 goals rank him 47th.
Goalies
Connor Hellebuyck leads all goalies with a ridiculous 2.06 Goals Against Average. Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz ranks third, and ironically, failed sumertime Leafs acquisition Jacob Markstrom is second.
Joseph Woll was in the top five until recently, but a few rough games has seen him tumble down to 15th overall, which is still decent.
When it comes to save percentage, Connor Hellebuyck is once again the leader, and he is almost surely going to win the Vezina Trophy again. He already had two, which is probably two less than he deserved.
Anthony Stolarz is second in save percentage, but unfortunatley he is out until at least February with an injury. Minnesota's Filip Gustavsson and Utah's Karel Vejmelka are both in the top five of each catagory.
Finally, to no one's surprise, Connor Hellebuyck leads the NHL with 4 shutouts.