Special Teams
Special teams make or break playoff runs. The Toronto Maple Leafs penalty kill was ranked 25th last season with a kill rate of 76.9%. This preseason, the Leafs killed 20 of 21 penalties taken. If the Leafs can continue this trend and finish with a top ranked penalty kill, this too should win them more games than last year.
The Leafs finished last season with a 7th ranked powerplay with a success rate of 23.9%, despite a brutal stretch in the month of March, only cashing in on 9.1% of their chances. This preseason, the Leafs capitalized on 6 of 23 powerplay chances, good for a 26% success rate, which would rank top 5 in the league last season.
It seems special teams was a focus this offseason, and it's paying off early.
A Familiarity with Winning
Craig Berube took the last place St. Louis Blues on January 1, 2019, and led them to a Stanley Cup victory in June. Lane Lambert won the cup the year before on the bench with the Washington Capitals. Marc Savard, though sidelined with a career-ending concussion, was on the Boston Bruins roster for their cup win in 2011.
OEL, Steven Lorentz, Anthony Stolarz just won with Florida last year. Max Pacioretty has played in a Western Conference Finals with Vegas. Chris Tanev played in the Western Conference Finals last year with Dallas. Every one of the new additions for the Toronto Maple Leafs has first hand experience with deep playoff runs, and what it takes to get there. Shout out Brad Treliving for injecting this experience with winning into the Leafs culture.