The Maple Leafs Are Improving in Two Crucial Areas

With the season now one-third completed, I thought it would be time to look back at where the Toronto Maple Leafs are currently positioned. If you’ve been listening to all the conversation about the Maple Leafs without looking at the team’s record, you might be surprised that they are sitting solidly second in the Atlantic Division and improving.

Yes, the team has been playing a lot of close games; however, they’ve also been winning lots more than they’ve been losing. Over their past nine games, they’ve gotten a point in each game. And, even when they don’t win, they often get a point from going to overtime. A point every game – even in a loss, is nothing to sneeze at.

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As a Maple Leafs fan as well as a writer who covers the team, I’ve seen two notable positive shifts in the team’s play since the beginning of the season. First, the team is hard-working; and, second, the team is becoming more physical.

In this post, I want to offer notes about these changes.

The Maple Leafs Are Building a Resilient Team Identity

The team has been good for several seasons. However, this season there seems to be a different and evolving team identity. I’ve read many Maple Leafs Facebook pages where fans seem more willing this season than in past seasons to laud the team’s work ethic. Some fans have even called it “unwavering.”

One thing that’s been evident is that the team doesn’t give up when it gets behind. Although the recent Columbus Blue Jackets game is the most recent case in point, it’s been happening all season that the Maple Leafs just won’t quit working hard to come back in a game. Often, they succeed.

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How many games this season have the Maple Leafs scored late third-period goals to push a game that was lost into the overtime season? When that happens, that’s at least one point in the season’s record. The team’s work ethic and resilience in the face of adversity are laudable. Given this commitment to hard work, the team has generated a foundation for success. That’s a huge positive shift in both the team’s identity and, better yet, its culture.

The Maple Leafs Improvement Includes Embracing Physicality

Another change the team seems to have made this season has been that they’ve become more physical. Specifically, they have been standing up for their teammates. Earlier this season, on two occasions Max Domi dropped the gloves during a Maple Leafs game. Once was against the Vancouver Canucks Ian Cole after Cole had clotheslined Nick Robertson. The second time, Domi jumped into a fight with the Florida Panthers Sam Bennett.

Interestingly, Sam Bennett was the Panthers player who body-slammed Maple Leafs’ rookie Matthew Knies to the ice during last season’s playoffs and injured him enough to end Knies’ season. Then, during the Pittsburgh Penguins game Saturday night, when Domi took John Ludvig’s stick to the mouth and lost another tooth, guess who jumped into the fray for a fight? It was Knies. Who knew he was so physical?

Long memory for Knies perhaps. However, that these players are standing up for each other is both a change and a positive development. This newfound aggression and willingness to engage physically were noted as essential attributes, especially in the context of playoff dynamics.

So two positive changes have been part of the team’s new culture this season. First, the team never quits. Second, the team stands up for each other. From my perspective, both are big positives.

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