Toronto Maple Leaf record just about right
The Toronto Maple Leafs are currently sitting in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 5-5-1 and it suits the team perfectly.
The Leafs hit the ground running in the 2010-11 season, playing without a regulation loss in their first five games. However, the rest of the East has quickly caught up with them and the Leafs have now dropped three straight and have fallen from the top
of the Northwest Division and the conference.
However, Leafs fans should not panic, this is exactly what the team was expected to do this season. The club got off to a torrid start, which was a surprise to the hockey world, especially after last season’s dreadful 0-7-1 start. Nevertheless, the ‘Buds
have cooled down and should now be celebrating their .500 record.
The fact is that the Leafs are not an impressive team. The club that opened up the year was playing above their heads, they were taking advantage of teams that had not developed a game plan and gotten comfortable with the new teammates acquired over the
summer. Certainly the Leafs must be given credit for having a strong training camp and gelling so quickly, but that advantage can only last so long.
The mistake Leafs fans are making now is assuming their team is the one that started the year and not the one they have watched over the past four games. The beginning of every National Hockey League season sees several non-play-off teams get off to tremendous
starts only to peter out by the time November and December roll around. Eventually the League evens out and the skilled teams work their way back up the standings and into the post-season.
However, that is not to say the Leafs are a particularly bad team. Currently the squad sits third in the Northeast with 11 points and is battling for a play-off spot, only one point out of eighth place and this is where Leafs fans can expect this club to
be for most of the season.
The Leafs will be stuck around ninth and 10th place until they are able to solve their scoring woes. Heading into the 2010-11 season it was a foregone conclusion that this team would have trouble scoring goals. At the moment the Leafs are second
last in the League in goals for and outside Clarke MacArthur and Phil Kessel do not have a player with more than two goals this season. To put that in perspective, the Atlanta Thrashers, who are one place above them in the Eastern Conference, have six players
with more than two goals this season. Similarly, the Leafs struggle on the power play, where the club ranks 23rd in the League with a 12.8% success rate. If you are unable to score five-on-five and have a poor power play you are not going to lead
a division or conference in the NHL in 2010-11.
Conversely, what is keeping the Leafs afloat and in the play-off hunt is their defence. Toronto is ranked 10th in the League in goals against per game. The strength of the defence is a real positive for a club that was the second worst in goals
against per game last season.
The Maple Leafs are struggling to put the puck in the net at the moment, but doing a fairly good job of keeping their opponents off the board and it has landed them in ninth place, 11 games into the season. This is exactly what can be expected from Toronto
for the rest of the year. The squad is not in the upper echelon of the NHL, but they are a hard working club that has a shot at making the play-offs. The sooner Leafs fans realize this reality, the more exciting and rewarding the 2010-11 campaign will be.
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