The Toronto Maple Leafs have high expectations every season. They're in the biggest market in hockey-crazed Canada, and the media pressure is immense. Despite this, they have the talent on the roster to overcome the pressure and make a deep playoff run. Their start has been quite interesting, with some positives but many negatives that should have their fans worried a bit.
With a 5-4-2 record and 12 points to start the season, the Leafs have been good and bad, and many times both in the same games. Auston Matthews leads the team with eight goals and Mitch Marner leads them in points with 12. Many are concerned with Marner's 5v5 play, as he has just five coming at even strength. Defenseman Morgan Rielly is also a point per game with 11 so far. Matthews has been an absolute sniper this year, looking dangerous on most offensive shifts.
On the flip side, the Leafs' goaltending has been quite bad so far. Starter Frederik Andersen has a .901 save percentage, which is far below what is expected of him. Backup Michael Hutchinson is at a .890 save percentage, also very bad, but he isn't supposed to be very good, which is another concern. Andersen will rebound as the season goes on to a much better save percentage, but the fact that Hutchinson is their backup is not good at all. With no cap space to add a competent backup goaltender, the Leafs will either be forced to play Andersen more often than they'd like, or potentially lose a lot of games and subsequently points that they may need to make the playoffs.
John Tavares has had a mediocre start, even with seven points in eight games, but just three goals and has been missing offensively at many times compared to last year. In that eighth game against Washington, he suffered a broken finger and has missed the past three games, and will miss at least three more. Zach Hyman and Travis Dermott have missed the start of the season recovering from injuries, but are expected to return soon. With their returns soon, the Leafs will have significant decisions to make to stay below the hard salary cap ceiling, another worry for Leafs fans.
When looking at the Leafs' schedule, they haven't done well against teams that fans consider to be good. They are 1-4-1 against Boston, Montreal, Tampa Bay, St Louis, and Washington. All but Montreal made the playoffs last year, and they missed the playoffs by just two points. The Leaves should have a better record against comparable teams.
I've watched most of Toronto's games. They are a fun team to watch, and I love cheering for them to lose since I am not a fan of them at all. Some of the things I've noticed are that the Leafs have not been able to pull away from good opponents like they should be able to. In the Montreal, Tampa, St Louis, Washington, and Columbus losses, they had a lead and lost it. Sure, hockey is a fickle sport and teams do blow leads fairly often, but the trend for Toronto is concerning.
While the Leafs will certainly rebound in several areas, their start hasn't been great, and with a strong Atlantic Division, making the playoffs is going to be tougher than most pundits expected.
