The preseason for 2022-23 is approaching and from August 1 onwards, NHL.com/sv will put all of the NHL’s 32 clubs under the microscope. From the biggest talking points to each team part, we give an overview of what it looks like for each club. Here, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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The headline may be a little dramatic, but surely it’s time for the team building that general manager Kyle Dubas put together to win something? At least a playoff run?
– It’s a reasonable question, was Duba’s answer to a related question in connection with the Maple Leafs summing up the season; namely, whether he felt his job as general manager was in jeopardy due to the club’s failure to win in the playoffs.
– I see it as my job being in danger every season and that I am judged after every season, continued Dubas. I don’t know if I feel like there’s more pressure on us to win now than before. It is important to me personally to help the organization win.
Video: Nylander’s top 5 goals 2021-22
So far, however, things have not gone the way of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Not only has the team not won a playoff round since 2004, they also set a less flattering record after losing Game 7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Maple Leafs then became the first team in NHL, NBA and MLB history to lose a straight decisive game five seasons in a row. Toronto fell in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins in both 2018 and 2019, in a decisive Game 5 against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the unique playoff setup in 2020, in Game 7 against the Montreal Canadiens in 2021 and most recently against the Lightning in Game 7.
– That (losing in the playoffs) is something you never get over, said the team captain John Tavares to NHL.com in early August. It feels particularly difficult considering the line-ups we had and how close we came.
Tavares, part of the Maple Leafs core of star players that Dubas painstakingly put together with Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner, William Nylander and Morgan Riellyhowever, suggested that there is only one solution to the problem:
– The only thing you can do is to consign what was to the past and continue to put in the work. Keep knocking on the door and keep believing in the group. We really feel that the core we have built here is special. So, we will continue to fight.
The Maple Leafs have lost players who Ilya Mikheyev, Ilya Lyubushkin, Jack Campbell and Ondrej Kase since the end of the season, while Calle Järnkrok, Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray can be seen among the names that have been added.
– It’s tough to see players leave, but the organization has done a good job of keeping the core players together and bringing in new, good players to replace those who have gone, Tavares said.
– We are aware of how hard everyone in the organization works to keep this team competitive and we look forward to the coming season with the composition we have now.
Video: Matthew’s top 5 goals 2021-22
One of the biggest changes to the Maple Leafs heading into the 2022-23 season — and either a strength or a weakness depending on how things land — has been between the posts.
Campbell out, Murray and Samsonov in. Something of a gamble from GM Dubas, the verdict so far has been with most experts around the league.
– It will be an open battle between them, said Dubas about his new goalkeeper pair. We will give both the chance. Our hope is that both will play at the level we know they are capable of playing. We will be working with them here from September onwards and hopefully get both up and running.
– It would be great for us if both reach their highest level.
Undeniably. For Dubas in his role as general manager as well as for the Maple Leafs at large.
Because the goalkeeper signings would not reach the heights the team hopes for, and would players like Auston Matthews (60 goals, 46 assists in 73 games), Mitchell Marner (35 goals, 62 assists in 72 games) and William Nylander (34 goals, 46 assists in 81 games) fail to repeat their 2021-22 performance, well then the 2022-23 season could very well be the “last night with the gang” for the Maple Leafs’ stars.
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