The Maple Leafs organization and fans find themselves in an unfamiliar position of late. In and out of third place in the Atlantic, and in possession of\u00a0a playoff position. \u00a0A position which is not taken lightly, since Toronto has made the playoffs only once since 2005.<\/p>\n
But\u00a0playoff talk in ‘the 6ix’ has led the organization and fans alike to ask a similar question: where do the Leafs need to improve to make a legitimate playoff push?<\/p>\n
Toronto is tied for fifth in the league with 185 goals scored. \u00a0In their last five contests, the Leafs have scored 21 goals.<\/p>\n
Toronto continues to get production out of its young players. \u00a0Led by Auston Matthews<\/a><\/strong> and Mitch Marner<\/a><\/strong>, the rookies for Toronto have 225 points this season.<\/p>\n That’s pretty impressive.<\/p>\n How does this compare to last season? \u00a0Toronto only had two scorers break the 40 points mark in the 2015-2016 season. \u00a0The Maple Leafs have five scorers with 40+ this season, and will likely finish with 6 as Tyler Bozak<\/a><\/strong> has 38 points on the year.<\/p>\n Bottom line? Toronto’s offense can score with the best of them. \u00a0Even in playoff competition.<\/p>\n With all the young talent, it is no surprise that the Maple Leafs have the top ranked power play in the league, converting on 23.5% of their opportunities. \u00a0Nazem Kadri<\/a><\/strong> is leading the way with 10 power play goals on the year. \u00a0While William Nylander<\/a><\/strong>, Matthews and Marner have combined for 50 points\u00a0with the extra man.<\/p>\n The penalty kill is also ranked among the top ten in the league. \u00a0An area head coach Mike Babcock would like to improve upon, but by no means a big problem moving forward.<\/p>\n Which brings us to the defense.<\/p>\n The Maple Leafs have benefited from good production from the second pairing of Jake Gardiner<\/a><\/strong> and Connor Carrick<\/a><\/strong>, who are a combined +28 this season. \u00a0In contrast, their top pairing continues to struggle. Morgan Rielly<\/a><\/strong> and Nikita Zaitsev<\/a><\/strong> are -24 on the season. \u00a0That isn’t the production a playoff team needs out of their top pairing.<\/p>\n Despite this, it is not all on the defensemen. \u00a0Toronto surrenders the third most shots per game in the league. \u00a0Only Buffalo and Arizona are worse, making Curtis McElhinney<\/a><\/strong> and Frederik Anderson’s play all the more impressive.<\/p>\n Further, the Maple Leafs are one of two teams in playoff contention which allows an average of 2.9 goals per game. The other is the New York Islanders, who currently occupy the second wild card spot in the East. \u00a0That is not a coincidence. \u00a0The Maple Leafs need to cut back on their goals against if they want to say in the race.<\/p>\nThe Special Teams<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The Defense<\/strong><\/h4>\n