The Leafs are not content with where they are, even though they're currently a top-10 team
When the final horn sounds to decide tonight's game against the New Jersey Devils, the Leafs will have officially concluded the first half of their 2021-22 season. While the first half results have certainly been good, the Buds are not taking things lightly as they gear up for the second half - that much was made clear by forward Alexander Kerfoot on Monday.
"We're definitely not satisfied with where we are. We know we've got a lot to improve on," Kerfoot said on Monday, following the Leafs' morning skate.
The second half is usually where the men begin to separate themselves from the boys, with the league's top teams emerging as legitimate threats to compete for a Stanley Cup. That's where the Leafs want to be, but it's not necessarily where they see themselves right now. While it's comforting to know that the boys know that there's still work to be done, Leafs Nation has also read this book before and it has had a disappointing end the last 54 times they've read it.
The silver lining here is that while the Leafs currently sit 8th in the overall standings, they have games in hand on every team ahead of them, and are tied for 4th in points percentage with the second-hottest team in the league, the Minnesota Wild - who have won their last 5 straight.
To put that into perspective, there are only 3 teams in the entire league with a better points percentage than the Leafs, and they are Colorado, Florida and Carolina; the top three teams in the NHL.
A very busy February is important for the Leafs, as they have the ability to gain some real ground on the competition as they fight for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. If this team wants to change the narrative, they're going to have to do exactly what Sheldon Keefe has been preaching since he took over in 2019; build Stanley Cup winning habits. That means no more blown multi-goal leads in the third period, not giving the opposition anything easy, playing sound two-way hockey and putting forward a concerted effort from whistle to whistle over a full 60 minutes. It's time to put up or shut up.
