The Toronto Maple Leafs are entering the 2024/25 NHL season with high stakes. This campaign feels like a do-or-die situation, as time is running out for the franchise and its core group of players. In a bid to gain the postseason success that has eluded them, the Leafs added a Stanley Cup champion to their roster. The new Maple Leafs player recently shared the key to his early-season success with the team, captained by Auston Matthews.
The pressure is mounting on Toronto’s core, and the organization has shown its commitment to change by parting ways with both the General Manager and head coach in recent years. The players will likely be next if they fail to meet expectations once again in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So far, the team is off to a promising start under new head coach Craig Berube, posting a 3-1-0 record, good enough for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Despite their strong start, the Maple Leafs’ true concerns lie in their postseason failures. To address this, they signed goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers in the 2023/24 season. Toronto’s front office hopes this move will help aid their defensive problems and take pressure off Matthews.
So far, Stolarz has fit in seamlessly, and he revealed the key to his adaptation to the team: “I think as a goalie that you can kind of control the game,” Stolarz said, per DailyFaceoff. “So for me, it’s just about going out there, being calm, cool, collected, and playing my game. It helps that I’m a bigger guy, so I’m able to play a little deeper, but I also think I’m extremely agile as well, so it’s just a good combination.”
Matthews’ first impressions as Captain
Auston Matthews, fresh off winning the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top goal-scorer with 69 goals in the 2023/24 season, had a slow start to his current campaign. It took the Toronto Maple Leafs captain four games to notch his first goal of the 2024/25 season. Matthews finally found the back of the net during the Leafs’ convincing 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings, offering high praise for his team’s all-around effort.
“I think just a good start, solid throughout, [Anthony] Stolarz made some big saves,” Matthews said. “I thought we defended pretty well and just contributions from all four lines. We were able to roll four lines throughout the game and when you roll them over like that, I think it can make it pretty hard on the opposition.”
Matthews’ goal, a blistering snap shot, left his teammates and fans awestruck. The shot was so quick that Kings’ goaltender David Rittich barely registered it as it sailed past him.
“You love to see it, he ripped that one,” Bobby McMann stated. “I think it went in and out before anybody even saw it. All the boys are smiling, you love to see that for him because you know there are a lot more coming.”
The Maple Leafs are banking on this being their breakthrough season. With a new head coach at the helm and Matthews embracing his role as captain, optimism is running high in Toronto. But as the postseason looms, so will the ghosts of past playoff disappointments. Whether the Leafs can finally exorcise those demons remains to be seen.