There is less than a week until Christmas and those last minute shoppers are wondering what to buy those on their list who seemingly have everything.
With a 20-10-2 record through 32 games this season, the Toronto Maple Leafs seem to have their season on track and are looking ahead to home-ice advantage come playoff time. So, what in the world could they be looking for this holiday season?
Well, there’s not such thing as perfect and it’s because of that the Maple Leafs still have a wish list being sent off to Santa this holiday season. What’s on it? Anything that will help to improve their overall performance and earn them a series win in 2024-25. But if you’re looking for specifics, here are three things the Maple Leafs could use for the second half of the season.
Maple Leafs Want Bottom-Six Scoring
While it’s started to increase over the past few games, the Maple Leafs would love to see some depth scoring from the bottom-six they currently have. Both Max Domi and Nick Robertson have each scored in the past two games since Bobby McMann returned to the Maple Leafs’ lineup, but with just two goals and four goals, respectively, there’s no guarantee this will be a long-term trend for the team.
If this trio can continue to click the way they have over the past two games, then great, problem solved. But the Maple Leafs need that to be the case, especially when it comes to playoffs.
Domi has the second-lowest shooting percentage of his career to kick off this season at 6.5 percent and on top of that he’s averaging just 1.29 shots per game which isn’t going to cut it for the Maple Leafs.
As for the team’s fourth line of Steven Lorentz, David Kämpf — who is just returning from injury — and a mix between Ryan Reaves and Pontus Holmberg, scoring hasn’t been a major asset when it comes to these particular names this season.
Combined those seven players have 18 goals this season, making up for just 18.5 percent of the team’s goals this season. In an ideal world, that number would be more in the 20 percent range for those nights that the top players can’t find the back of the net.
Maple Leafs Want a Healthy Captain
Speaking of those top players, something else the Maple Leafs will be asking for this holiday season is a healthy Auston Matthews. Let’s face it, he’s not 100 percent and while he did take time off earlier this season, going from day-to-day to week-to-week and flying in to Germany for some treatment, he still doesn’t seem quite like the 69-goal scorer of 2023-24.
The season doesn’t get any lighter for the 27-year-old either. He’s been named to the 4 Nations Face-Off where he will represent Team USA and the Maple Leafs are vying for home-ice in the playoffs so they will need all the help they can get.
Matthews has seemed a little more like himself since returning from injury, but he isn’t closing in on the puck and burying opportunities to the same level that he was last season. He has 10 goals in 23 games and is on pace for just 31 goals this season if he plays the remaining 50 games of their regular season.
The lone positive from this is that the Maple Leafs know how to get it done without him in the lineup, but a 100 percent healthy Matthews would be a much better gift this holiday season than seeing him in and out of the lineup heading down the stretch of the season.
I know, it sounds crazy to say that 31 goals is iffy production from the Maple Leafs’ star, but the fans have come to expect a much higher total from one of the game’s best goal scorers since he entered the league in 2016-17 with a 40-goal debut season.
Maple Leafs Want Center Depth
There are some rumours already swirling around the team that suggest they are in the market for some more centre depth via trade. While a number of names have surfaced as potential targets on the trade market, a few that continue to pop up are Nashville Predators’ Ryan O’Reilly, Philadelphia Flyers’ Morgan Frost and the New York Islanders’ Brock Nelson as affordable options.
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Currently, the Maple Leafs stack up decently down the middle with Matthews, John Tavares, Domi and Kämpf as their go-to four. That said, adding another piece in the middle could move Domi to the wing and, ultimately, maximize their middle-six depth with a potential scorer in Domi getting to play a different role.
A trade of that magnitude would likely see at least one roster player moved and it would shift the entire lineup outside of the top line. However, with a Domi move to the wing, it would make another player like Robertson, Connor Dewar or Holmberg expendable — or, it could see the end of Kämpf’s run with the Maple Leafs and Domi could stay put in the middle.
Either way, don’t expect the Maple Leafs to enter the playoffs with the same lineup they close out the calendar year with and remember that these are just wish list items. What Santa decides to bring this team will depend entirely on where they land on his ‘nice’ list.
