Sometimes the temptation is to look at the result and judge if an event was successful or not. Like Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring. He fought bravely to try to save the lives of Merry and Pippin, but as the Urk Kai attacked, Boromir was struck by an arrow and fell to his knees. The brave knight of Gondor got back up and fought on until he was struck with a couple more arrows; failing his mission as his friends were kidnapped. He fought bravely and kept his honor. In the first round, the Toronto Maple Leafs fell to the 2-time defending Stanley Cup Champions Tampa Bay Lightning. Though a worthy opponent, a cynical view of the Maple Leafs 2022 playoffs was simply that they failed to win a round again. However, does the result match the cynical view or did the Leafs fight bravely and keep their honor.
2021-22 Pre-season Expectations: There possibly isn't another team in The NHL that could be classified as a Stanley Cup Contender without much success like the Maple Leafs. This team hasn't been able to break through in the playoffs, but they have the PREMIER Talent in the NHL like Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Their next tier is pretty good too. William Nylander notched 80 points and John Tavares still can bring it on a nightly basis. This pair - even when streaky - can be deadly. The problem is that they haven't gotten out of the first round of the playoffs. As much as you can not blame them for losing to Boston and Tampa Bay over the last 5 years, but it's puzzling that they couldn't get through a 9th seeded Columbus Blue Jacket team in 2020 or a Montreal Canadiens that they had a 3-1 lead over. Could this teams do what the others could not and then ACTUALLY compete for the Cup?
2021-22 Results: Only the Florida Panthers scored more goals than the Toronto Maple Leafs and they ranked 4th overall in The NHL with 115 points (54-21-7). While many could point to goaltending and defense, the Leafs were a difficult team to keep off the scoresheet. As stated above the Toronto Maple Leafs fell in 7 games to Tampa Bay. At SEVERAL times in this series, Toronto looked too fast for Tampa. In Game 5, they came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 4-3. In Game 6, the Lightning flipped the script with some questionable power plays called the tie the game and win it in overtime on a Brayden Point jam play in front. In Game 7, you know what happened.
What went right: Auston Matthews took home the Hart Trophy for league's MVP after he scored 60 goals, 46 assists and 106 points. Matthews threw the Leafs on his back and carried the team when the defense and goaltending faltered. When you scored at a 17.2% clip on 348 shots, the only word to describe is "DAAAAAAAA-AAAAA-MMMMN". Mitch Marner was his usual outstanding, but the diamond in the rough was Michael Bunting. After producing slightly more than anyone reading this (14 points in 26 career games in Arizona), Michael Bunting signed as a free agent and EXPLODED! Bunting would light the lamp 23 times with 40 helpers to make him a Calder trophy finalist at the age of 26. The forward group sported six 20 goal scorers including two 30 goal scorers and obviously one SIXTY!
What went wrong: In the beginning of the season, goaltending was superb. Jack Campbell was nearly flawless in November with a 9-2 record Save % 0.959 and a 1.27 GAA. The problem is that there were other months. From December to March, Campbell wasn't as good to say the least with an 0.882 Save % and a 3.64 GAA. Campbell spent some time on IR (possibly to rest) and came back well in the month of April with a 7-0-2 record 2.59 GAA and a 0.915 Save %. In the playoffs, Campbell was with REALLY bad (Game 4 vs Tampa) or REALLY GOOD (Games 5-7). Campbell even shutout Tampa in that series! However, his overall numbers look good for the season, 31-9-6 with a 2.64 GAA and 0.916 Save % suggest he could be a number one goaltender, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut.... at least they got Petr Mrazek signed for 2 more years at $3.8m. Yikes.
Reasons to be optimistic: The Leafs have to face a team they can beat in the first round sometime, right? The Lightning can't be THIS GOOD forever and the Panthers may not be as good next year. Gotta give credit to Sheldon Keefe on the job he's done. The Leafs were 4th in the NHL while allowing the 14th most goals in the league. Their +60 goal differential is always a good indicator of record. All of their big guns are signed for at least two more years and their trade deadline acquisition of veteran defenseman Mark Giordano, the Leafs are set up to keep this party going. They have $7 million in cap space that could go and get a goaltender. Stay Tuned.
Reasons to be pessimistic: They haven't done it! The Leafs loss to the Blue Jackets stand out like a sore thumb. If you cannot progress to the next step, how can you possibly get to the "lose before you win" step. The Leafs are a video game team. Top Heavy and high scoring, but they haven't excelled at the playoff time because they aren't the most defensive team. The Leafs addressed their defensive issues with Giordano, but they have to improve from the 14th worst Goal Against in the league. 10-7 games against the Detroit Red Wings aren't going to happen in the playoffs.
What this team needs: The Leafs are RIGHT THERE, but they need better goaltending. Is Jack Campbell the answer or is it one of the many good candidates in the goaltending carousel from Marc-Andre Fleury to Darcy Kuemper or potential trade targets like Semyon Varlamov and Jon Gibson. A back end defenseman could help greatly too.
2022-23 Expectations: The Toronto Maple Leafs weren't unsuccessful this season. They have had many critics - myself included - but they fought hard and were a quality opponent for the defending the two time Stanley Cup Champs. Can the Leafs be as good keeping the puck out of THEIR net as they are at putting it IN their opponent's net? The answer could be as simple as changing the man between the pipes. Maybe, just maybe, next year is their year. We'll see.
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