Ending the 2013-14 season with a record of 38-36-8, the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t seem like an East contending team. Coming into the 2014-15 season , however, the Maple Leafs have been able to win nine out of their sixteen games, and have taken two losses into overtime. In the next week, Toronto faces a couple of the East’s best offensive teams, including Pittsburgh and Boston.
Throughout the offseason, the Leafs roster stayed mostly the same, adding a mere eight players in the last few months. They picked up veteran defensemen Roman Polak and Stephane Robidas. Forwards that have been acquired include David Booth, Matt Frattin, Leo Komarov, Petri Kontiola, Mike Santorelli and Daniel Winnik.
Out of the eight new numbers on the bench, Leo Komarov seems to be adapting best to the new lineup. In Wednesday’s 6-1 win over the Boston Bruins, Komarov played on the third line left wing, alongside Peter Holland and Mike Santorelli. Including that game, Komarov has netted only one goal, but he’s assisted eleven.
It’s not just the new skaters that have impressed us. Forwards Tyler Bozak, Phil Kessel, and James Van Riemsdyk have all shown us their skills in the sixteen games so far. Kessel has twenty-one points, ten goals and eleven assists. Bozak has buried the puck eight times, and helped out with nine other goals, for a total of fifteen points. Van Riemsdyk has fourteen points, split evenly. Star defenseman and Toronto’s captain, Dion Phaneuf, has six assists and one goal. His +8 in the plus/minus category is also solid. Good ol’ Jonathan Bernier is a big part of the the Leafs top fifteen spot as well. He has five wins and five losses (two in overtime) in eleven games. James Reimer, Bernier’s backup, won four out of six.
If the Maple Leafs can keep playing the way they have the past sixteen games, they should have no problem making the playoffs. They have won their past four home games, and might add onto that streak within the next week.
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