KEYS TO SUCCESS

Nick De Cicco

The Toronto Maple Leafs regular season schedule is set to start tonight and I am excited to see what the new faces are going to produce. With that, the Leafs have a few keys to success that they need to secure in order to be successful this season.

Around the league, goaltending is incredibly important to be successful through the season, the Buds are no exception. With new goalies between the pipes for the Leafs, they need to stand on their heads.

Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov have been impressive through their performances in the preseason. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, the key to Matt Murray’s success is his confidence that needs to be at the highest level. With the cheering Leafs nation behind Matt and the support from his teammates, Murray’s confidence is sky high and it needs to stay that way.

The only concern is maintaining Murray’s health and keeping his starts to a minimum will help everyone involved. Maintaining a tandem is perfect for this situation, and the ability of Ilya Samsonov will match the Leafs strengths. Samsonov needs to keep his emotions in check throughout the season and he can’t afford breakdowns after soft goals are allowed.

In terms of offensive power, the recent signing of Calle Jankrok will be beneficial as a shooting option for the top six. The power play really needs to step it up in a more consistent role with the fire power this team possesses.

Adding guys like Jarnkrok, Aston-Reese and Robertson can be the deciding factor in the units’ success. Even 5-on-5, there were moments of complete disaster offensive where they simply couldn’t light the lamp last year. These new faces can be useful in avoiding those slumps.

Defensively, we could already see the injury scares from the first few preseason games and even before training camp started. Banged up Jake Muzzin and Timothy Liljegren have missed the preseason games and might be rusty in their first few games during the regular season.

A goal for the defensive play at the beginning of the season is utilize the depth pieces that they have to avoid injuries to a thin blue line. Additionally, the use of healthy scratches can avoid burnouts during the middle of the season. Jordie Benn and Victor Mete were signed with the organization to strengthen the defensive depth and should be key acquisitions to ensure past struggles are in the rear view mirror.

With mentality being a major part of any team’s success, the Leafs need to maintain the confidence they had last year in the playoffs. Throughout the lineup, there can’t be any negative feelings and thoughts from the crushing defeat in the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Even though these terrible thoughts can enter a player’s head, a new season is a brand new start with an even playing field for all teams.

Maintaining the keys to success that were mentioned above can help the team fulfill the fans’ expectations and to push beyond the failures in the playoffs in the last 18 years.