The Toronto Maple Leafs have started the 2022-23 NHL season 4-4-2, and with October now behind us, there is one stat that should cause some alarm from fans.
One shocking Toronto Maple Leafs stat at this point in the season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost six games in the month of October, when including OT losses. Five of those six losses came against teams not in the postseason last year.
While there is a strong chance that one of the teams that missed the playoffs will be back in the postseason in 2023, the fact that the team’s losses can all be grouped together like that is not good for the long-term success of this team.
Let’s break down the numbers of the Toronto Maple Leafs losses:
Oct. 12 – Montreal wins 4-3
Oct. 17 – Arizona wins 4-2
Oct, 24 – Vegas wins 3-1
Oct. 27 – San Jose wins 4-3 in OT
Oct. 29 – Los Angeles wins 4-2
Oct. 30 – Anaheim wins 4-3 in OT
So not only are the Toronto Maple Leafs currently on a four-game losing streak, but of those six losses the team has had so far, all but the game against the Kings have come against teams that were not in the playoffs.
When you look at the Leafs’ schedule so far, they could and probably should have won all the games during the month of October. This team is better than Montreal and certainly better than Arizona, San Jose, and Anaheim. I would even say the Maple Leafs could and should have bet the Golden Knights and Kings, yet here we are.
The Maple Leafs are off until Wednesday when they face the Philadelphia Flyers at home. Hopefully, that is a good night for the Leafs to get back on track against another team that missed the playoffs in 2022.
While tracking things by who missed the postseason last season might not be the perfect tracker, as things are different from year to year, I believe this team is drastically better than their losses suggest.
Toronto is currently in seventh place in the division, and they have played the most amount of games. Making the playoffs is not going to be easy this season. While I know everyone probably feels the same that Toronto is going to make the playoffs, they can make things difficult on themselves if they have another month, like October in November.