Four Crucial Areas For Maple Leafs The Rest Of This Regular Season

As the Toronto Maple Leafs begin their post-all-star break portion of the regular season, there are some areas of their lineup that have been settled – for instance, the No. 1 goaltender’s job is now Ilya Samsonov’s job to lose – and there are areas they clearly need some help with. Let’s focus on the areas the Buds have to thrive in the rest of the year as they hope to finally do some playoff damage this spring:

1. Beat Teams They’re Supposed To Beat.

The Leafs have their first five post-All-Star-break games against NHL sad sacks – two games apiece against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks, and one game against the last-place-in-the-Atlantic-Division Montreal Canadiens. Toronto has squandered games against sub-par teams like Arizona and San Jose already this season, and if they’re going to stay ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning and secure their hold on home-ice advantage in the post-season, the Leafs need to take care of business against teams they should have no problem beating.

The schedule gets more difficult for them after that, before easing somewhat in the final stretch of the year. But Toronto must handle the lesser-than teams to give them a shot at home-ice advantage.

2. Trade For A Forward Of Consequence, And Another Depth Forward.

The Leafs have been rumored to be interested in virtually every NHL veteran considered to be on the trade block, and for good reason: GM Kyle Dubas is under enormous pressure to get this team at least past the first round of the playoffs, and as the deadline nears, he’s expected to be one of the most active “buyer” GMs. A star winger like San Jose’s Timo Meier or Chicago’s Patrick Kane would be a home-run swing for Dubas, but it will cost Toronto a huge price.

That should be fine by Dubas. If the Leafs lose out again in the opening round, there could be someone different in the GM role beginning this summer. For that reason, we believe he’ll not only add an elite talent as a rental, but also, an experienced depth player to improve Toronto’s bottom-six group of forwards.

3. Solidify Their Situation In Net.

As noted above, Samsonov has earned the starter’s job this season, but the recent play of veteran Matt Murray – and Murray’s recent injury – has created some second-guessing about this particular tandem. Samsonov is going nowhere, but American Leaguer Joseph Woll has had a terrific season, which begs the question, if Murray struggles, will Toronto turn to Woll as its understudy?

Murray has one year left on his contract, but that can be bought out if he isn’t delivering as Leafs brass has hoped. Woll is just 24, and developing their own goalie, rather than trading for a veteran like former Leaf James Reimer, is where we see the Leafs going in net. This is not the season for Toronto to sit back and hope Murray finds his ‘A’ game; if it’s not there, and it’s not there soon, the Leafs can, will and should examine all other goaltending alternatives.

4. Improve Their Road Record.

The Leafs have built an impressive 20-5-4 home record this season – only the Bruins (22-1-3) have a better record in their own building – but Toronto’s road mark is a mediocre 11-8-4, and their 11 road wins are the fewest of any team currently occupying a playoff position. One of the hallmarks of a true Stanley Cup frontrunner is their consistency at home and on the road, and Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe knows he has just 12 more home games and 18 more road games ahead of him prior to the playoffs.

The Buds need to improve their play away from Scotiabank Arena, and with road games to play against Columbus, Chicago and Vancouver between now and the day after the trade deadline, they have no excuses why they can’t be a better road team.