The Toronto Maple Leafs are now underway in the ninth season of the Auston Matthews era. It’s pretty wild to think about the fact that all three of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander are in their prime right now and not just the young faces representing a new era of Leafs hockey, but at 27, 27, and 28 years old respectively, they’re no longer a bunch of kids.
The pressure has never been higher to have some meaningful playoff success, and with both a new head coach at the helm and Matthews sporting the ‘C’ on his jersey, it does feel like a bit of a turn of the tide, even though the franchise only has one playoff round win to speak of in the past nine years.
As the team gets ready for another kick at the can, here are three keys to success for the Leafs in 2024-25.
Improved special teams
This one is far and away the biggest one on the docket. The Leafs’ inconsistent power play and bottom-tier penalty kill single-handedly sunk them in certain games and made life as hard as possible in the playoffs. Through the opening two games of the season, it has been the weakest aspect of the team. They are only one year removed from having the league’s second-best power play and only two from having the league’s best power play, and although the penalty kill hasn’t ever been in that echelon, they can certainly do better than 23rd in the NHL, which is where they were last season.
The power play should be the easiest one to fix. And the general issue with the power play hasn’t even been scoring goals. In fact, this team has proven that they can be one of, if not the hottest team in the league, if their power play is clicking like they’re capable of doing. The issue has long been consistency and not adjusting (or failing to) when teams figure out their game plan. This might change under a new head coach and a new power play coach, but whether or not they’ve improved on that front will have to wait until they’re at least a few months into the season.
The penalty kill, on the other hand, likely needed a fresh voice in addition to some new personnel. Lane Lambert is overseeing the penalty kill this season and, although it’s preseason, seems to have instilled a good rhythm into the unit he’s working with. The Leafs only allowed one power-play goal on 25 opportunities in preseason, and while they shouldn’t be expected to maintain that pace, it’s still a good sign and something the team should be encouraged by. Having Chris Tanev back there helps, too.
Stable goaltending
The Leafs found themselves in a situation last season where Joseph Woll was injured for a month, and Ilya Samsonov couldn’t keep a beach ball out of his net, so they had to rely on Martin Jones to dip his feet into the fountain of youth and steal a couple of wins for them. Ideally, this is something they look to avoid in 2024-25.
The news of Joseph Woll’s day-to-day injury is sure to get some fans shaking their heads, but in reality, having Anthony Stolarz start Game 1 is fine. What wouldn’t be fine is having one of the two goaltenders turn into a black hole between the pipes like they’ve had happen to them more often than not over the past half-decade.
Dennis Hildeby stole the show after being thrust into action on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils and though he’ll likely play the majority of the year with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, he’s a real option for the Leafs throughout the year.
I wrote a whole article over the weekend about how Anthony Stolarz could be a low-key X-factor for the Leafs this season, so if you want a deeper look at my point, you should check that piece out after this. But in the end, all it comes down to is having both goaltenders perform at their standards, at bare minimum. Essentially, if they can avoid being statistically the worst goaltenders in the league this season (like Ilya Samsonov was from October to December of last season), then they should be fine. If both of them can be, dare I say, good? The sky is the limit.
Form an identity and lean into it
It’s hard to pin down exactly what “form an identity” means because on paper, the Leafs’ identity is skilled, high octane offence and speed. The problem is, far too often when the game is flipped on its side and teams effectively find a way to shut them down, they’re stuck skating in circles trying the same plays that have been getting shut down all game instead of adjusting their own game and making the opponent uncomfortable. It’s a big reason why, against the non-playoff Atlantic Division teams, the Maple Leafs were 7-6-1 in 2023-24.
Again, maybe this is something that changes under Berube, but time will tell. No matter how you look at it, that’s surely one of the main reasons they brought him in. While Sheldon Keefe’s Leafs teams were talented, fast, and dominant in the regular season, they routinely found themselves in similar situations during his tenure as head coach. Was that all his fault? Of course not. But sometimes, a new voice is needed in those situations. And if Berube can instill that sort of mindset in them from Day 1 and lead them down a path where, even in games they lose, they go down swinging and by making the opponent’s life difficult, perhaps the hiring will prove its worth on its own.
