#toronto-maple-leafs

#toronto-maple-leafs

Sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the team may be inclined for a retool. If you breakdown the roster, they still have a lot of skilled players headlined by Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mathew Knies and John Tavares, but after that its slim pickings. The team's defensive-core is good when they're all intact, but one injury changes the entire landscape of this roster. Chris Tanev's injury has hurt this team tremendously, which shouldn't be the case for such an old roster.

As we approach the 20-game checkpoint of the season, the Maple Leafs currently own a record under .500, the second-worst points percentage in the Eastern Conference, and the second-worst goal differential. The 8-9-2 record has been fully earned to date, and understandably, the pitchforks are out. The Leafs haven't played well or even attempted to play a good brand of hockey.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been off to a rough start for the 2025-26 NHL season. After looking like a top-tiered team in the league for much of the past few years, the Leafs have sure taken a step backwards this season, seeing their uncharacteristic struggles with sustainable offense, sound defense and goaltending. They haven't really looked like this since the start of the Auston Matthews era in Toronto.

The only people who weren't to blame for the Maple Leafs' fourth loss in a row were Dennis Hildeby and John Tavares. The former is the owner of one of the least-deserved four-goal-against performances of all time, keeping the Maple Leafs in it at every possible opportunity until they were hemmed in to the point of no return.

Owing to a few bad penalties and giveaways early, the Bruins built a 4-1 lead in just over 20 minutes. As Toronto started to rally back, Max Domi took a penalty, and Boston put the game to bed. It was a frustrating watch for Leafs fans who continue to tune in nightly with the expectation that the team has learned some lessons from the last game, only to make the same mistakes.

"For me, it's just a mindset. If you want to be a good defensive team, you've got to check, you've got to have good sticks, you've got to win battles, and you've got to have good structure. And right now, it's a mindset for me. We don't have any of that right now."

With the Toronto Maple Leafs hovering close to the .500 mark so far this 2025-26 NHL season, we have often seen Leafs head coach Craig Berube tinkering with the lines to find the ideal combinations. Whether it be just making in-game changes or the actual insertion and scratches of players for the daily lineup, the Leafs appear to be still looking for the right mix this season.