The Toronto Maple Leafs are off to a very mediocre start. Through seven games, they are 4-3-0 which isn’t a bad record by any means but it isn’t what we expect from them either. This is a roster that should be good enough to be in the top three of the Atlantic Division all season long.
It is a team that is led by a very nice group of players. The best of them is Auston Matthews. In 2021-22, Matthews became the first NHL player to score 60 goals in a decade. It was a marvelous performance all season long.
So far this season, Matthews’ dry goal-scoring start could be the main culprit for the Maple Leafs’ mediocre beginning of the season. He has one goal through the first seven games which pails in comparison to his pace from last year.
He needs to get it going again. If he can be 90 percent of what he was last year, he will lead the Maple Leafs to a lot of wins. His shot is the best in the NHL and he needs to get back to putting it to good use.
The Toronto Maple Leafs need more from Auston Matthews in terms of scoring.
This isn’t to pile on Matthews either. These things happen. Everyone hits a dry spell in certain areas of their game. Matthews is going to get out of it but the sooner it happens the better it will be for the Maple Leafs.
Matthews does have five assists on the season so it isn’t like he isn’t contributing offense. Those six points of his only trail William Nylander (7) and John Tavares (8) for the team lead. If he starts to score some more goals and keep the assists up, he will lead this team in scoring with ease.
Mitch Marner is off to a slow start as well. You’d think that one of them getting it going will help the other get it going. This duo is very capable of coming back from this and still having their 90+ point seasons that we have become used to seeing from them.
The Maple Leafs will have another chance on the late side of the NHL slate on Thursday. They are in California to take on the San Jose Sharks for a big road game.
Expect Matthews to get on the board in this one against a bad Sharks squad that is the perfect slump-busting team. Once that happens, the floodgates will be open for one of the best young goal-scorers that this game has ever seen.