The Maple Leafs may have a hard time repeating 2021-22

So you’ve read the title and you’ve decided to be angry. That’s okay, you are a user of the internet after all. It’s to be expected.
But allow me to take the edge off your fury before I dampen your hopes:
The Leafs are still an excellent team
The Leafs will make the playoffs and likely challenge for home-ice advantage
The Leafs’ new-look goaltending, with all its uncertainty, will have a hard time being worse than last year’s 29th-ranked Jack Campbell/Petr Mrazek tandem
However, there are a few things standing in the way of another 115-point season for the Maple Leafs.
The first is history. Twenty-three teams have put up a 0.701 points percentage (115-point pace) or higher in the NHL’s salary cap era, with four of those cases happening last season (FLA, COL, CAR, TOR). Of the remaining 19 teams, just four were able to cross the 0.701 threshold the next season. Additionally, just one of those four teams actually improved upon their point total from the previous season. That one team? Last year’s Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers, who jumped from 0.705 in 2020-21 to 0.744 in 2021-22. Simply put, it’s a hard mountain to climb two years in a row.
The second is the strengthening of the Atlantic division. The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn released his NHL offseason improvement r …

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Author: Mark Norman / The Leafs Nation

How can the Leafs get the most out of Nick Robertson?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Leafs have a problem at left wing.
This was the story running rampant last summer and early in the 2021-22 season following the departure of Zach Hyman and the failed Nick Ritchie experiment. Michael Bunting was a revelation once he finally carved out his spot but here we are again, discussing the same issue one line lower in the forward group.
Alex Kerfoot, despite his versatility in the lineup, is going to be traded. The salary cap crunch demands a sacrifice that will leave a hole in the lineup in the form of a player who can play top-6 minutes, but isn’t necessarily the best choice to play alongside John Tavares and William Nylander. And in the wake of that impending loss, the Leafs need someone who can step in and fill that position.
That someone could be Nick Robertson.
The soon-to-be 21 year old forward was the Leafs’ second-round draft pick in 2019 and immediately had a breakout season in his final OHL year with 55 goals and 86 points in 46 games. Since turning pro and joining the Leafs in the 2020 playoff bubble, (dressing in four of the five games,) Robertson has only played in 65 total regular season games …

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Author: Dylan Murphy / The Leafs Nation