How worried should the Toronto Maple Leafs be about the playoffs?

The Toronto Maple Leafs are fighting for their playoff lives as the season reaches the playoff push. How worried should they be about potentially missing the postseason?

Has there been a team that’s been more fascinating to watch this season than the Toronto Maple Leafs? The skill on their roster is among the best in the league, but they just can’t seem to put together some consistency and establish themselves as true contenders. As the playoffs draw ever closer, it’s plenty reasonable to start to worry about missing the playoffs.

As of Feb. 7, the Maple Leafs currently sit outside of the playoffs with 63 points. They trail the Florida Panthers by one point for third in the Atlantic, and are two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the final wild card spot should it come down to that. That point total doesn’t seem like much, and it’s not, but that’s not the concern. The concern is the amount of competition that they’re up against, and the minimal room for error.

The way that the Eastern Conference is stacked up this year guarantees that at least two very good teams are going to miss the playoffs this season. Toronto is not alone on the outside looking in. The Hurricanes have flip flopped in and out of playoff contention this season, only one year after a run to the Eastern Conference Final.

The point is that the Maple Leafs an unquestionably a good team, but that’s not what they should be worried about. What they should be worried about is how competitive this race for the playoffs is, and they have to play at a league-best pace in order to lock down a spot in order to make up for the slow start to the season.

Toronto started the season 9-10-4 before firing head coach Mike Babcock. Since the Leafs made the change at head coach and replaced Babcock with Sheldon Keefe, they’ve been one of the better teams in the league during his first 31 games with a 19-9-3 record and 41 points. It’s been enough to get them back into the playoff race, but it’s not been enough to solidify them as contenders.

The Maple Leafs offense is obviously potent, ranking second in the league in goals for with 194. However, it’s not a mystery that their defense and goaltending has been an unmitigated nightmare once again this season. Toronto has given up the third-most goals in the league with 181, and have a combined save percentage of .899 this year. Even with Keefe taking over, Toronto still gives up 3.10 goals per game.

Basically, the Maple Leafs are trying to outscore their problems just about every single game. Some nights it works, some times it doesn’t. Serious issues with consistency have come as a result, including some avoidable losses that have left what have turned out to be crucial points off the board.

It’s getting to the point in the season that they should absolutely worried about missing the playoffs. Any team that’s outside of the playoffs or just barely hanging on in February should have those same concerns. Every team in this playoff race is hungry for a spot and if Toronto can’t string some solid wins together, eventually they’re going to farther and farther back of teams like Florida or Philadelphia.

After two consecutive terrible losses to the Panthers and New York Rangers, the Maple Leafs were clearly very worried about their current situation, and made a trade in an attempt to stabilize before it gets out of hand.

The Leafs acquired goalie Jack Campbell and forward Kyle Clifford from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Trevor Moore, a 2020 third round pick, and a conditional 2021 third round pick. Should this affect how they feel about their playoff chances?

Campbell is absolutely an upgrade over Michael Hutchinson as the Leafs backup goalie. A first round pick in 2010 for the Dallas Stars, Campbell never found a foothold in the NHL. However, he emerged as a solid NHL-caliber goalie last season, posting a .928 save percentage in 31 games on the lowly Kings.

This season hasn’t had the same magic, but his .900 save percentage on the Kings is still notably better than what Toronto has been getting with Hutchinson. If Campbell at very least can be relied upon to give the team a chance, then starting goalie Frederick Andersen won’t need to be relied on so heavily down the stretch.

Clifford being added to the deal is a bit of a surprise considering Toronto’s amount of offensive depth, but he’s not being brought in for scoring. Clifford is a well respected leader that was the heart of the Kings during both good and bad times, and can bring a level of snarl to the Leafs’ lineup that they’ve lacked in the past.

Overall this trade improves Toronto at areas of weakness, the most glaring of which was their backup goaltending. But make no mistake, this trade is not a miracle cure, it’s a bandage.

Campbell is a better goaltender than Hutchinson, but he’s still a backup goalie at the NHL level. He won’t magically make the Leafs’ defense better at preventing scoring chances. Clifford is a good depth player that will bring leadership qualities, but he’s far from a game changer. The real cure to their ailments needs to come from within, and a team commitment to showing up every single night.

The fact of the matter is that the Maple Leafs are better than their record, but are also running out of time to prove it. With a proven solid backup, there are no more excuses. To miss the playoffs with this group is inexcusable, and they’ll need to find another gear in order to not only get there, but compete in the playoffs.

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