This summer was a big one for the Toronto Maple Leafs organization as they continued gutting the remnants of the previous management regime. For context it’s been almost a decade since Toronto rebuilt their roster and became yearly cup contenders, yet they’ve failed miserably in reaching those expectations ever since. Known as the most cursed franchise in the NHL, they’ve made the playoffs every season since 2017, though only made it past the first round once. They seemingly find a progressively more embarrassing way to lose every year with all six of their last first round exits coming in game seven. It is worth nothing that they managed to break the “19 year curse” in 2023, where they ultimately fell to Florida in the second round in just five games. Subsequently general mana
ger and longtime member of the club Kyle Dubas was left unsigned come summer time and ultimately moved on to another team.
This was the first domino to fall.
The following season (last year) the Maple Leafs after having a mediocre season finished third in their division and rumours around head coach Sheldon Keefe’s future with the club became uncertain. They matched up against long-time rivals. Boston Bruins in the playoffs and this would be the fourth meeting between the teams in the past decade with all three prior contests ending in a game seven defeat for Toronto. It looked as though history would repeat itself as Toronto found themselves in a 3-1 deficit and superstars Auston Matthews and William Nylander were both out to injury. A timely goal from Matthew Knies gave the Leafs a shot of life with a game 5 overtime win heading back to Toronto with Nylander expected to play. The Leafs hung on for their lives in a close contest winning that one 2-1 and seeing Toronto once again playing a game seven in Boston. The feeling was a little different this time around as not a single goal was scored until the third period. Off a beautiful dish from Matthews in his return, William Nylander put the buds up by 1 with half a period to go and it almost felt like the first time in the four meetings that they might actually win. This unfortunately came crashing down minutes later when the roof was nearly blown off the building on a Hampus Lindholm Bruins goal. That feeling of hope quickly subsided into dread as we’ve seen this film before. The Bruins off a swing and dump buried it before fans could sit down for overtime and yet again crushed the hearts of Leafs Nation. Following the playoff loss there would once again be a managerial change as both the Leafs and head coach Sheldon Keefe agreed to part ways.
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Going into this season for nearly the first time in ten years, Toronto would have an entirely new front office and coaching staff aside from sitting President Brendan Shannahan. The hiring of Stanley Cup winning coach Craig Berube may be just what the Leafs need to get themselves over the hump. Additionally to ring in the new era of Leafs hockey, former captain John Tavares relinquished the C on his jersey and the club named Auston Matthews its new captain. Although we’re only halfway into the season under the new bench boss, vibes around the organization are noticeably better. It feels like a whole new team is stepping onto the ice this year. The standings have reflected it thus far, with Toronto sitting atop the stacked Atlantic division and sitting in the top five league wide. This can be attributed to the coach but he’s not the only one to praise.
Afterall the coach isn’t the one stepping onto the ice.
Toronto has been winning their games differently than previous years, digging deep and finding a way to shut down teams late in games. Previously the team’s MO was to rely on outsourcing their opponents and think about defense later. However there seems to be a new emphasis on clamping down games even if it’s to the detriment of the scoreboard. Now this comes a lot easier when you have two stellar goalies that can work a tandem on the backline in Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll. They also have worked harder to find players that match their desired style of play, shown by the resignings og Simon Benoit and Max Domi. They also added a top five shutdown defenceman in the league: Chris Tanev in free agency and it’s been paying dividends in their gumption to keep the puck out of their net.
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Every good team faces adversity and that’s usually the test of a team’s character. How does this Maple Leafs team do when faced with a challenge. Previous iterations of this team would see themselves sink when faced with a tough test, but it appears they’ve grown and no longer go down so easily. Only halfway through this campaign they’ve seen multiple goaltender injuries and have laughed in the face of them, winningmore than lost even with their third stringer Dennis Hildeby. Franchise leading goalscorer and captain, Matthews has also gone down with injury on multiple occasions this season and it hasn’t phased them a bit going 10-5-0 in his absence and a .660 points percentage. Now they’ve lost the former John Tavares after an injury in practice last week and they’re still yet to lose with him out of the lineup. The Leafs are also near the top of the NHL in come from behind wins this year and was exemplified on Saturday night after giving up three first period goals. They went on to win 7-3 in their biggest rivals’ home barn.No matter the challenge they’re finding different ways to dig deep and get in the points column seemingly every night.
But surely they’ll hit a skid right?
Recently Toronto lost three in a row after a prior five game winning streak. MAny media outlets labelled this as a “skid” and were projecting the downfall of the 2025 Toronto Maple Leafs. This was more than premature and even had some of the players laughing. Before their first game back in the win category, Nylander was asked about the losing streak to which he responded with a chuckle and stating “we’re not worried”. If the standard for this team is three games being time to hit the panic button, I think they’re in pretty good shape.
With a little under half the season to go and Toronto appearing to have the season on cruise control. This is shaping up to finally be the year we see this team go on a deep playoff run. Do you think under new management the franchise can transition from being the joke of the league to where they belong among other cup contenders? Only time will tell, but this is a new-look Leafs team and so far it’s been reassuring what we’ve seen on the ice this season.