Leafs news outlet identifies two things that need to happen before the Leafs can really take off

The Leafs often do start pretty slow and become more and more dangerous as the season wears on, but this season, it feels as though they aren't catching fire as early as they did last season, which could be a problem. However, as one Leafs news outlet points out, the Buds are still missing a key component in their D corps in Timothy Liljegren, which has hurt them greatly over the last few weeks.

Liljegren was arguably the Leafs' top defensive defenseman at the time of his injury, thanks to a Brad Marchand trip just a couple of feet away from the boards that has forced Liljegren out for a significant amount of time with a lower-body injury, believed to be a high-ankle sprain. Naturally, when you're missing a player like that, the blueline is going to suffer for it some.

Liljegren has missed almost a month of action now, and while the Leafs didn't provide any sort of a timeline for his recovery, other than to say he'd miss significant time, you have to believe that he'll resume skating very soon and that a return to the lineup is not too far off.

LNN also believes that, aside from Liljegren's eventual return, once the team makes one more acquisition to help compliment the blueline, the Leafs will make a push towards the top-10 in the National Hockey League standings, at least in 5-on-5 expected goals against. The Leafs currently sit 17th in that category as of November 26th.

There's a lot of season still ahead, but if the Leafs want to have any hope of finishing in the top-5, they'll certainly need some help on the blueline. Hopefully, help is on the way.