Where do the Maple Leafs stack up among their Eastern Conference competitors?
Amidst a flurry of moves on the 1st of July, how do the Toronto Maple Leafs stack up against the rest of the Eastern Conference heading into the 2024-25 season?
This year's free agent frenzy was unlike any other we've seen over the last several years in large part because of the sizeable increase towards the salary cap. It was reported that over 1 billion dollars worth of contracts were signed on the first day alone and the Maple Leafs were one of many contenders who beefed up ahead of a pivotal 2024-25 season.
In 2023-24, the Eastern Conference was generally viewed to have had 5-6 strong contenders. The Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Maple Leafs were the cream of the crop in the Atlantic Division and the always chaotic Metropolitan Division featured the President's Trophy winning New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes.
The Panthers should walk into the new year as the team to beat after lifting the Stanley Cup just last month. They might have lost Brandon Montour but their core remains intact with Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, and Gustav Forsling among many others.
The Bruins finally addressed a position of need and signed UFA centre Elias Lindholm while also adding his Vancouver Canucks teammate in Nikita Zadorov to bolster their back-end. They traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators for Joonas Korpisalo but a big season is expected for Jeremy Swayman who will definitely be a Vezina Trophy favourite.
The Lightning let their former captain Steven Stamkos walk into free agency but not before trading for the signing rights of Jake Guentzel and then subsequently extending him to a long-term deal. They also added Cam Atkinson post-buy-out from the Philadelphia Flyers, traded Mikhail Sergachev and Tanner Jeannot on the second day of the draft, and also brought back Ryan McDonagh in an attempt to shore up their back-end.
The Hurricanes had a tough summer as they lost Guentzel, Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce, Stefan Noesen, Teuvo Teravainen, and Evgeny Kuznetsov from their NHL-roster. They also have to sign pending RFAs in Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis, however they were able to add Shayne Gostisbehere, Sean Walker, William Carrier, and Jack Roslovic to try to even out the losses.
The Rangers had a very quiet summer and will enter the new season virtually unchanged. They let Blake Wheeler and Alexander Wennberg test the open market while essentially replacing them with Reilly Smith and Sam Carrick.
Which brings us back to the Maple Leafs who added Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Anthony Stolarz into the fray, extended Max Domi and Timothy LIljegren, all the while keeping the core intact. They will be hoping for breakout seasons from Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann who figure to earn top-6 minutes this year but everything comes back to the core-4 and the health of their goaltenders.
At least for today, the Maple Leafs are arguably one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and have a legitimate argument for the throne - on paper. The Panthers will provide the toughest test of all teams, the experience of the Bruins and Lightning could be a thorn in the side, and the Metropolitan Division looks to be in store for another chaotic season.
After a flurry of moves this summer, the Maple Leafs could be in line for their first President's Trophy in franchise history and just their 7th divisional crown - and first legitimate divisional championship since 1999-00 discounting the North Division crown from the 2020-21 season.
Source for player movement and NHL line combinations:
NHL Line Combinations
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 21 | 472 ANSWERS Where do the Maple Leafs stack up among their Eastern Conference competitors? Who is best team in the Eastern Conference heading into the 2024-25 season? | ||
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 188 | 39.8 % |
| Florida Panthers | 150 | 31.8 % |
| New York Rangers | 107 | 22.7 % |
| Other | 27 | 5.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
