Toronto Maple Leafs preview: John Tavares has Leafs on the edge of glory

Strengths

Center Depth

Stanley Cups are won down the middle. And the Toronto Maple Leafs have three excellent centers. Despite missing 20 games last season, no one has scored more five-on-five goals over the past two seasons than Matthews. With appropriate power play time, he could be a serious threat to Alex Ovechkin‘s goal-scoring throne.

Meanwhile, Tavares has 65 goals over the past two seasons during all situations, which ranks 16th among forwards. Playing with Marner makes him a threat to score at least 40 goals. It also makes him a darkhorse threat to lead the league in goals.

Only 12 players have scored at least 30 goals in each of the past two seasons. Tavares and Matthews are two of them. Kadri is the other, which gives the Leafs three players who could score 30 goals. I think he sees his production drop a bit because of a slight decrease in playing time, but he’s still one of the most effective two-way players in the NHL.

Now, I’m not sold on the Leafs’ fourth line yet. But frankly, Toronto has three top line caliber centers. They can easily cover for that fourth line weakness.

Power Play

The Toronto Maple Leafs could have a historically great power play. Their top unit will likely feature Matthews, Nylander, Marner, Rielly, and Tavares. Good luck stopping that five man unit. Their second unit will still be pretty darn good, as it will feature Kadri, Marleau, and Gardiner. Johnsson seems like a good fit for a role around the crease and Kapanen definitely has the skill to play on the power play.