As I begin writing this article, the city of Toronto is mourning the Blue Jays as they blew an 8-1 lead to be eliminated from the 2022 MLB postseason. This event has resulted in many Toronto sports fans comparing the Jays to the Leafs, and losing all hope for Toronto sports. As a devoted Leafs fan who is too far into the fandom to lose hope, I present to you a fairly optimistic and, in my mind, realistic look into the Leafs before the 2022-2023 season.
Sure, we lost Jack Campbell and the last time we lost a starting goalie (Freddy Andersen), he became an all-star the very next season with his new team. Yes, I did think Lybushkin would stay and be an anchor on the blue line. No, I did not expect Spezza to retire and I valued his veteran leadership on the ice and in the locker room. However, this does not mean it is time to lose hope in this team, and I think the performances the fans got to see in the preseason corroborate that.
Let’s start with the goaltending: 7 games played, and a goal allowed average of only 2.00 for all four Leafs goaltenders combined. Matt Murray’s save percentage through three games was an incredible 0.969, allowing only two goals on 67 shots faced. This gave glimpses of the Matt Murray that took over the starting job from Marc-Andre Fleury and did not let it up on his way to win the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016. With a few rocky seasons behind him, maybe rocking the blue and white is the change Murray needs to return to his Cup-winning days.
There is not much that can be said of the defensive core, with it remaining largely the same. However, fans were able to witness many unique line changes that might change the way the Leafs cycle their offence this season. An example was the beautiful tic-tac-toe setup for a powerplay goal between Marner, Bunting, and Nylander. Seeing players like Simmonds, Clifford, and Gaudette being placed on waivers also hints at the team’s changing identity going into this year. After years of talk about the Leafs not being gritty enough, it seems as though grit has often landed the team in trouble come playoff time. Notable examples have been the infamous Kadri suspensions and poorly timed penalties taken by Simmonds over the past two postseasons. It seems as though the young guns have grown into skilled scorers that have the ability to check when needed and the Leafs will be relying on this to make up for the loss of brute force and grit on their roster.
At the end of the day, fans should be excited for another season and the chance for redemption to finally occur in the first round. Feeling sorry for yourselves or your team is no fun, and with the monkey remaining on this team’s back, I am sure they are just as motivated to take it off.
