Can you feel the love in the air? It’s Valentine’s Day! In honour of the day of love, we will look at some Toronto Maple Leafs players that fans have fallen in love with this season. So let’s get right into it. Enjoy!
The Men Between the Pipes
Like every love story, there are the ups and downs, the good and the bad, the happy and sad (or angry). Well, the same can be said about the Maple Leafs’ fans and the team’s goaltending position. When the goalies are playing well, the fans love it, but when things go south, there isn’t so much love from the fans. As is typical, I am guilty of the same thing; it’s part of being a fan of a team. This is why ‘The Men Between the Pipes’ is the first love story this season. There have been three different goalies to defend the net for the Maple Leafs, all of whom have been given great praise by the team’s support. Let’s start with the youngster, Joseph Woll. He was thought to be the starter this season and was on that path before he suffered a high ankle sprain on Dec. 7, 2023. He was gaining more confidence with every start and truly solidifying himself as the bona fide starter; he had a record of 8-5-1. Sadly, high-ankle sprains are hard to recover from, especially as a goalie, and he has been out of the lineup ever since.
While Leafs Nation awaits the return of Woll, we turned our attention to a struggling Ilya Samsonov. He couldn’t buy a win at the start of the season, and his morale was as low as it has ever been. It looked like we were going to see the end of him in the NHL. On Jan. 1, 2024, the Maple Leafs made the smart decision to send him to the American Hockey League (AHL) to take time and work on himself, mentally. When he was called back up and returned to the lineup on Jan. 14, 2024, against the Detroit Red Wings, it looked like a completely different goalie. The Samsonov from last season, which fans adored, seemed to be back. Since then, he has seemingly returned to his previous form and has won over the hearts of so many Leafs fans again.
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In the last love story between the pipes is Martin Jones, the grizzled veteran who started the year as the third goalie and was sent to the AHL to join the Toronto Marlies. He was signed by the Maple Leafs as an insurance goalie, essentially to help when things weren’t going well. That is exactly what he did; he was called up on Dec. 10, 2024, and some would go as far as to say Jones saved the team’s season. Woll was injured and Samsonov was lost; it was all on Jones to carry the weight of the organization. The veteran netminder did just that; he went on a run and played extremely well until Samsonov’s return when you could tell he was tired out. It seems every time the Maple Leafs needed to rely on a goalie to help them, a netminder would step up and at points overlap, which has helped them stay in the playoff race.
Simon Benoit
Simon Benoit may be everyone’s favourite story this season. He was brought in on the legume minimum and bounced between the NHL and AHL for the first few weeks of the season, and during that time he didn’t play for either team. When he did play, he and William Lagesson held their own. However, Benoit stood out because he brings an element that the Maple Leafs lack on the back end, which is most likely why the fans also fell in love with him.
He will attempt to hit anyone on the ice and doesn’t care if there is pushback. If there is, he also isn’t shy about fighting, which has been well-received around Leafs Nation and the coaching staff. Now that he is a regular in the lineup, he slots in beside Jake McCabe, who is the most similar-style defenceman to Benoit, which makes them the most physical pairing on the team.
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Benoit is 25 years old and on an expiring deal, and his fans and the team want to change that. It would be smart for the organization to lock him up for a few seasons at a low cost. Potentially, even two years at $1 million per season would give him an increase in salary as a reward but also give the team money to spend on more defencemen. Benoit is an ideal last-pairing player in the NHL because of the qualities that he possesses, which help the team feel protected and energized. He resembles a younger Luke Schenn, who, during his second stint with the team last season, was a fan favourite. For Maple Leafs general manager (GM) Brad Treliving, it would be wise to not let the team make the same mistake again and sign him before it is too late. Although it wasn’t him at the helm—it was former GM Kyle Dubas—they still can’t let a player like Beniot sign elsewhere during free agency.
There are numerous players on the Maple Leafs that the fans love, whether it be Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly, or William Nylander. However, those are the players that most of the fan base has loved since the start of the era. It is players like Benoit who are the newcomers that the fans tend to gravitate to and truly appreciate their hard work.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!!
