The 3 biggest concerns for the Maple Leafs coming into the 2024-25 season
As the regular season fast approaches, we take a look at some potential concerns for the Toronto Maple Leafs in what should be a pivotal 2024-25 season.
With the salary cap having finally seen a worthwhile increase, many NHL teams spent a lot of dough on the first day of free agency, including the Maple Leafs. They came out of it with Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Anthony Stolarz, and extended Joseph Woll and Max Domi, but as we head into another pivotal season, there are still some major concerns to keep an eye on, including the health of their goaltenders, whether or not they addressed depth scoring or not, and if some of the core members can keep up with their lofty expectations.
Goaltending has been a prominent issue for quite some time but the Leafs decided that they are more than okay with rolling into the new season with an inexperienced tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz. Skill-wise, no one has an issue, however with Stolarz only having 83 starts under his belt in 7 years, there are hoping that he can finally take that much needed step after being drafted in the 2nd round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
Injuries are also an issue because Woll and Matt Murray have not been able to escape those concerns over the last few years. Murray has only appeared in 73 contests since 2020-21 and he missed the entire 2023-24 season with a myriad of ailments, while Woll has only seen 36 games with the Leafs over the last 3 seasons in large part because of his health - including missing Game 6 of the first round against Boston. If injuries strike again to both of these netminders, Stolarz will be tasked to handle more than the lion's share of the workload and the Leafs have to hope he is up to the task with no contingency plans in place.
As for their depth scoring, the Leafs didn't necessarily address it over the off-season. In fact, they didn't even replace Tyler Bertuzzi, who played a key role in the top-6 for most of last season. While it wasn't the best first impression, the Leafs still lost a 20-goal scorer and a solid secondary asset.
Bolstering the back-end was the name of the game this summer, which means that the offense will not only have to be spearheaded by the core members once again, but they are more or less hoping for breakout seasons from both Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann or for one of Fraser Minten or Easton Cowan to emerge as a viable piece this season.
McMann has just 66 games of NHL experience but was able to tally 15 goals last season, however is that going to be enough to warrant a stay in the top-6 for the entirety of the 2024-25 season? If injuries come to the forefront as well, the Leafs' depth will be further tested, bringing back concerns of not addressing the middle of their lineup during free agency when they had the chance to.
As for the core members, the pressure will assuredly be on once again to spearhead the offense. There shouldn't be too many questions about Auston Matthews or Mitch Marner considering their excellence since the beginning of their respective careers, but what about Nylander? Could he regress enough to the point where his $11.5M AAV becomes an issue? Will he revert back to being a 65-70 point winger in a year in which the Leafs really need him to perform to the level that he's become known for? Certainly a concern given the lucrative deal in place for the next 8 seasons.
Considering Nylander has only improved since the 2020-21 season, a drastic reduction in point production doesn't seem likely, but with a new coach in town, there are no guarantees. Nylander recorded 34 goals and 80 points in 2021-22, followed that up with 40 goals and 87 points in 82 games the next season, and came within 2 points of 100 in 2023-24. The way his season came to a close could bring about some question marks with just 1 goal and 5 points in the final 13 games - however, every player is prone to droughts at some point and his overall body of work was very strong.
Obviously, these aren't the only concerns, and some may even look at these topics and view them as non-issues altogether. But in the dog days of summer, these are just some of the ideas that come to mind that we view as worth talking about.
Source for Tyler Bertuzzi statistics: Hockey-Reference
Tyler Bertuzzi stats and bio
Source for William Nylander's statistics: Hockey-Reference
William Nylander stats and bio
| POLL | ||
AOUT 4 | 2162 ANSWERS The 3 biggest concerns for the Maple Leafs coming into the 2024-25 season Which is a bigger concern for the Maple Leafs heading into the 2024-25 season? | ||
| Health of their goaltenders | 1178 | 54.5 % |
| Lack of offensive depth | 462 | 21.4 % |
| Potential drop-off for William Nylander | 185 | 8.6 % |
| Other | 337 | 15.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
