6 questions for Maple Leafs to answer this season
Will John Tavares silence the haters? Can Auston Matthews do it again? Is this the year the curse ends? Here are six questions for Maple Leafs fans to ponder for the 2022-23 NHL season.
Video Transcript
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- New year, new Leaf season. So I have a couple of things that I feel like we as Leafs fans should be focusing on this year. The first thing being goaltending, which, I think, is a thing that a lot of people are focusing on. Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov, they had great pre-seasons. They looked steady for the most part, gave the team an opportunity to win.
Can they do the same thing in the regular season? I really liked what I've seen from Matt Murray. I think he's been very solid, hasn't moved too much, even though there are some moments, where there are fleurys in front of him. I think he's been able to handle that pretty well, and when it comes to Samsonov, he looks steady, as well, granted there are some moments where he plays the puck in kind of odd situations. But for the most part, I don't think they've given either of them have given us anything to be overly worried about.
For some reason, John Tavares has garnered a lot more haters amongst Leafs fans, and the obvious reason is because of his deal and $11 million. But as age is coming up, that's been the biggest thing. Can John Tavares still produce, despite the fact that he still had a pretty good season last year, and even before that? So can John Tavares silence the haters?
Now, what does that even mean? I don't know, because, again, I think, a lot of the hate is a little unfair. But can we have a season, where John Tavares is putting up 30 goals, again, maybe 60, 70 of 70 points, another elevator, another great addition to the top six to make the team overall more dangerous? But I think, when it comes to John Tavares silencing the haters, I think some production in the playoffs would be a really big thing to really silence a lot of the people who find every opportunity to dump on our captain.
This year's bottom six is a lot different than last year's bottom six. You have a fourth line that Sheldon Keefe can use in any situation with Zach Aston-Reese, David Kampf, and Nick Aube-Kubel, who can be used, again, in any situation and still be able to capitalize on the opportunities. And then you have potentially a line in Pierre Engvall, Calle Jarnkrok, and Alex Kerfoot. That can be a little bit of both. That can be your defensive line, but can also still have the skill to capitalize and score in times where you need to.
And, again, if we're going to go into a year, where the big focus is going to be on the big four, you may have games, you may have nights, where the big four aren't going to be able to get it done. Can that third line do it, and can the fourth line be relied on to play against the top first lines and second lines of other teams? Auston Matthews walked away last season with both the Hart, the Ted Lindsay, and a rocket. Can you do that again?
I think a lot of people are looking forward to see the idea of Auston Matthews being able to hit 60 goals again. That would be sick. That would actually make history. That hasn't been done in a really long time.
But if Matthews is putting together another season, like last year, where he's being seen throughout the rest of the league as the most valuable player, then, I think, the Leafs are going to need that if, one, they want to do good in the regular season, and two, if they, finally, want to break the barrier and make it out of the first round. You might have said the regular season doesn't matter. Some of the Leafs have said the regular season doesn't matter, but can the Leafs make the regular season matter?
I think, last year, there were a lot of games that the Leafs lost that kind of hurt their odds of winning the division or maybe even winning the Eastern Conference. Can they do that this year? The regular season does matter when it comes to that. Because if you come out as a top seed, then you have the lowest seed as a challenge going into the playoffs.
So even though we're all thinking, oh, the regular season doesn't matter, we just have to focus on what they do in the playoffs, maybe the Leafs can make the regular season matter, and then walk away with maybe an Atlantic division title or maybe even winning the East altogether. Is this the year the curse or the streak drought, however you want to think about it, is this the year it ends? This upcoming summer will mark the 10 year anniversary of the first game six loss, again, the first, which sucks.
Can this be the year, where the Leafs, finally, break out of the first round? I mean, so far, it seems as if some Leafy things have been happening in other sports. Sorry, Blue Jays. It was 8-1. I know, we understand. We feel you how it happens there, but can this be the year, where we, finally, end that circle, end that wave and pattern of Leafs pessimism? And we can, finally, watch the Leafs play on ice in the second round.
Can this be the year? Who knows? I mean, we say the same thing every year, right? We go in with optimism. We go in with hope. We hope that the team is going to be better. We see that the team looks better on paper, and then we wait to see what the results are going to be.
For some reason, I know I said this last year. But for some reason, I feel different. I feel different, and I don't know if it's because I'm just, like, not trying to hype myself up a little bit. But I do have an interesting feeling about this team, and maybe you do as well.
Maybe, like a lot of us, the way that last year ended was a little better, the fact that it was against Tampa, and they played well. Perhaps, this is the year, where all of that comes together, and they're, finally, able to win something into the summer months of the NHL season. But it'll be an interesting thing to see. It'll be an interesting thing to track. And if it won't be interesting, then it'll definitely be hurtful and harmful, because that's what being a Leafs fan is all out in some degree.
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