#toronto-maple-leafs

#toronto-maple-leafs

During the previous couple of seasons, the Leafs penalty kill had actually been one of their Achilles heel. In 2023-24, Toronto ranked 23rd in the league with just a 76.9% success rate. While in 2024-25, they were just slightly better in 17th with a 77.9% success rate. Considering that the Maple Leafs were led by the electric Mitch Marner in the department, one would have expected numbers to be above 80% on a regular basis.

Back on March 7, 2025, the Toronto Maple Leafs made one of the biggest deadline moves of the season: they traded forward Fraser Minten, along with a 2026 first-round pick (top five protected) and a 2025 fourth-round pick, to the Boston Bruins in exchange for veteran defenseman Brandon Carlo. Carlo arrived in Toronto to help improve a solid defensive core, offering size, shutdown ability, and penalty-kill experience.

It's little wonder that the Leafs have been reportedly looking to get some reinforcements on the backend via trades, such as the rumours of them keeping tabs on Rasmus Andersson. It will not be so simple for GM Brad Treliving to execute any trade he may have in mind because of how few assets the Leafs have at their disposal and the lack of a first-round pick until 2028.

The Maple Leafs have done a good job of collecting points lately, going 4-0-2, which has technically put them ahead of three teams in the East by points percentage. They would still need to pass four teams to take over a playoff spot. A few losses in a row, and they will be right back at the bottom of the conference. They're in the playoff race, but so is everyone else in the East. This will be a dogfight.

Nick Robertson is having a great two weeks, which means they need to trade him ASAP before his stock drops. Robertson sits sixth on the Leafs in goals scored this year but nine goals and 20 points halfway through the season doesn't get me excited about the future of this left-winger. The 24-year-old played his first game with Toronto in August, 2020, so we should have seen a much bigger improvement by now.

To see them on the outside looking in, the Leafs have competed hard, played structured hockey at times, and stolen points they arguably shouldn't have. They have gotten key contributions from players you wouldn't expect, but still sit towards the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Effort alone won't save a season. The one problem the Leafs are running out of time to fix is game-to-game consistency, particularly at five-on-five.

We are not sure of the cause of the injury, and whether it is upper or lower-body, which could be a good or bad thing. Berube mentioned that he doesn't believe that the injury is a reason for concern, but the Leafs won't know until the testing is completed. McCabe suffered an upper-body injury back on November 22nd, but did not miss anytime.

Matt Benning is expected to make his season debut, based on Saturday's practice lines. Benning is projected to replace Philippe Myers in the lineup, and will slot in on the third defence pairing alongside Simon Benoit. Myers has struggled throughout the year, with a minus-8 rating and two points in 21 games. Toronto controls a woeful 40 percent of the expected goals when Myers has been on the ice at 5-on-5 this season via Natural Stat Trick, while his 4.23 goals against per 60 at 5-on-5 is the 8th-worst total in the NHL among skaters with 100 minutes or greater.

On a Canadian Olympic lineup that found it necessary to overlook Connor Bedard, Wyatt Johnson, and Mark Schiefele, it's pretty hard to make a case for John Tavares making the team. Jon Cooper wanting his own guys (Hagel and Cirelli) comes with the advantage of familiarity so maybe that's understandable, but on a team that already has Cirelli finding it necessary to include Suzuki, Horvat, and Wilson seems like a commitment to two-way or physical play.

After all, they struggled to just an 18-15-6 record and often found themselves near the bottom of the standings, including the Atlantic Division basement for a little while. In order for the Maple Leafs to turn things around for the second half to give themselves a chance of still making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there are three main areas that they will need to improve upon.