Toronto Maple Leafs are surprisingly underperforming

[Mez]

2021 record after first 10 games:

5-4-1 with 25 GF and 29 GA


2022 record after first 10 games:

4-4-2 with 27 GF and 30 GA.


Last season they went 8-2-0 in their next 10 game stretch.

But doesn't it feel different this year? They are losing to really bad teams. They have had one of the easiest schedules to start the season.

 

[BlueBaron]

A mediocre defense and a mediocre bottom 6 have been constants with the Maple Leafs for years.

Blame goaltending all you want but the drop off from Matthews, Marner, Reilly, Tavares and even Nylander is massive and always has been.

Their defense has never once been good. Not even close.

Blaming Kallgren is pathetic and honestly so typical at this point. He's an AHL goaltender thrown into a tough spot because management made yet another awful decision regarding player management (Matt Murray? Really?) and now he's the scapegoat for the week.

Rinse and repeat. The team should be stepping up like every other team does when they have their backup in. Remember that Carolina game where a zamboni driver (on your payroll) beat you? It's cause they stepped up their game to support the guy in net. That's what being a team is.

You'd think that would be all the lesson this group would need lol.

This just in Team with two consecutive seasons as a top defensive team never had a good blueline. They were just lucky.

Leaf haters. A special breed of fiction writers.

Great Leaf bashing thread. Even mods are joining in . 500 team dominates discussion. HF is not obsessed with the Leafs....

 

[Zalos]

Meh. They should have one or two extra wins by now, but nothing they can't make up for in the following weeks. Their fans are always panicking way too fast.

The only player I'm puzzled by this early in the season is Matthews. Shouldn't he be competing with McDavid for best player in the league?

 

[Arthuros]

 

[ProjectPanthers]

This just in Team with two consecutive seasons as a top defensive team never had a good blueline. They were just lucky.

Leaf haters. A special breed of fiction writers.

Great Leaf bashing thread. Even mods are joining in . 500 team dominates discussion. HF is not obsessed with the Leafs....

You've been a top-10 defensive team exactly ONCE in the last 6 seasons and you were barely top-10. You were literally 17th in goals against last season.

Christ you don't even know your own team

 

[Blowfish]

They had a blurb during the game last night that indicated the Leafs started similarly last year and turned it around. The "underlying numbers" this year are actually a touch better. You don't want to see a middling start but it is too soon to push the panic button. That said, what is to suggest that the ultimate outcome for the Leafs this year will be any different than previous years? The same issues with the roster remains:

* Top heavy
* Not a lot of depth
* Middling defense
* Suspect goaltending
* Nerd GM
* Clueless coach

This !

 

[Kerberos]

The only player I'm puzzled by this early in the season is Matthews. Shouldn't he be competing with McDavid for best player in the league?

He's not a generational player and isn't anywhere near as good as McDavid, so no.

 

[Haatley]

This just in Team with two consecutive seasons as a top defensive team never had a good blueline. They were just lucky.

Leaf haters. A special breed of fiction writers.

Great Leaf bashing thread. Even mods are joining in . 500 team dominates discussion. HF is not obsessed with the Leafs....

A .500 team?

Since when is 4 W and 6 L a .500 record?

 

[BlueOil]

i'm sure they'll get back to outscoring some of their defensive faults soon enough, but the defensive issues will come back up in the playoffs when it matters more. might've been statistically a good defense in the regular season as north division team and last year, but stopping someone from scoring is not something i expect of the maple leafs squad. i just expect they have the talent to outscore those issues so i guess it's been a mildly disappointing start to the season.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Great plan by Dubas; don't have to lose in 1st round if you don't even make the playoffs.

3d chess right there

 

[krutovsdonut]

it is interesting. usually with a dynasty team they actually win the cup first , then they overpay their core players to reward then, then they go into ruthless mode discarding good players and good soldiers and doing extreme cap gymnastics year after year to retool around the key pieces that won. the idea is this is worth it to hold that winning core together as long as you can and keep the window open. it is tough to do for more than 3 or 4 years.

the leafs went ahead and skipped the whole cup winning thing and just built themselves a post-cup win team they have been trying to hold together for 5 years. i guess they assume fans will feel they must be a dynasty if they have a cap-slammed overpaid core team, and won't notice it is built around guys who have never won anything.

 

[TheGroceryStick]

Great plan by Dubas; don't have to lose in 1st round of you don't even make the playoffs.

3d chess right there

Good one randy, good one

 

[ffh]

A .500 team?

Since when is 4 W and 6 L a .500 record?

since they started giving points for games that are tied after regulation. they have 4 losses and have 10 points after 10 games thats .500

 

[robertmac43]

Outside their top 4, this team is not very good. Take those 4 guys away and this team would looking at a lottery pick.

What team isn't contending for a lottery pick with their 4 best players taken away? lol

 

[PuckG]

This just in Team with two consecutive seasons as a top defensive team never had a good blueline. They were just lucky.

You’re under the same delusion your GM is under.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Seems like marner is much too concerned with the media/fan base

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

You've been a top-10 defensive team exactly ONCE in the last 6 seasons and you were barely top-10. You were literally 17th in goals against last season.

Christ you don't even know your own team

They gonna use the Goalie excuse for a 1000th time.

 

[AvroArrow]

Outside their top 4, this team is not very good. Take those 4 guys away and this team would looking at a lottery pick.

Tavares aint getting any younger and that D corps is geriatric.

Tick Tock. If they don't win a cup in the next two years, I would be willing to bet that both Matthews and Nylander walk.

I mean if you take away Edmonton or Colorados top 2 players, forget top 4, both of those teams are going to be bottom finishes. What kind of team that loses it's 4 best players wouldn't see such a drastic fall ? lol imagine Pittsburgh without Crosby/Malkin/Letang + any 4th, or the Caps without OV/Backstrom/Carlson or the Bruins without Chara/Bergeron/Thomas and the list goes on.

You're not really saying much with that comment.

They gonna use the Goalie excuse for a 1000th time.

Ask Oiler fans how they feel about Soup

 

[Jumptheshark]

But doesn't it feel different this year? They are losing to really bad teams. They have had one of the easiest schedules to start the season.

nope--just the leafs being the leafs

 

[Based Anime Fan]

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

I would be ok with a top 10 pick in this draft tbh.

 

[BCNate]

This team could lose 3 or 4 of their next 5 really easily. It's gonna be far tougher to make up ground in the East next year. It could get real ugly real quick.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Dubas is a terrible GM....Shanny bet on the wrong horse

he signed Marner to a bloated contract, didn't get Matthew signed for 8 years...and signed Tavares, when the last thing they needed was more offense (ironically seems to be one of their better players this year)

and because of these signings, he's had to watch Hyman , Campbell and Mikheyev sign elsewhere and trade Kadri

he's downgraded the forward position, severely downgraded the goaltending position and the defense is below average...they are thin everywhere and the only solution is to find a taker for Tavares (NMC so I doubt he leaves) or Marner (massive ticket, good luck trying to find a team with the cap space)...and use that money to round out the roster a bit better
I didn't even mention the draft picks he's given up lol

 

[Sharkbomb]

Oh yes, Leafs aren't technically starting any worse than last year, but some of the losses this season are remarkable for the perceived weakness of the opposition: Montreal, Arizona, Anaheim, San Jose. Many were expecting these to be bottom feeders before the season started, and with the possible exception of Montreal, I think that expectation hasn't changed much.

And lets be honest, the issue with Toronto isn't whether they can repeat what they did last season but whether they can improve the outcome, and its looking ominous. This team so far looks exactly like you'd expect from a team that goes out in round 1 of the playoffs.

 

[waitin425]

What team isn't contending for a lottery pick with their 4 best players taken away? lol

But if you take away the 4 best players across the board, this team is one of the worst. They have zero depth, a brutal bottom 6, terrible old tired D and no goaltending.