3 Surprises From the First Half of the Maple Leafs’ 2024-25 Season – The Hockey Writers Toronto Maple Leafs Latest News, Analysis & More

At the midway point of the 2024-25 NHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have probably performed on the high end of what was expected of them. At 26-13-2 and with a narrow grasp on the Atlantic Division lead, they haven’t given fans a whole lot to wring their hands over (save for maybe Auston Matthews‘ health) at the halfway mark.

That doesn’t mean there haven’t been any surprises, however. Matthews, with just 12 goals in 26 games to date and lingering uncertainty over how close he actually is to being at 100% leads the list of unforeseen occurrences of the Maple Leafs’ first 41 games. On a positive note, it could be argued that the team’s success despite Matthews’ health struggles and production also counts among the surprises.

So what else cracks the list? Let’s take a closer look at some of what we didn’t see coming in Toronto’s first half.

Drastic Defensive Improvement

Aside from Matthews, the blue line has been the biggest story from the Maple Leafs’ first half. Sure, defensive improvement was anticipated with the free agent additions of Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, not to mention the hiring of Craig Berube as head coach, but to this extent?

As things currently stand, the Maple Leafs are allowing an average of 2.68 goals per game, which ranks as the seventh-lowest average in the league. That number represents an improvement of 0.46 goals allowed from just last season, when they ranked 21st. That goal prevention has extended into special teams, where Toronto has taken a penalty kill that ranked 23rd in 2023-24 (76.9%) and improved to the NHL’s 12th-best mark (81.9%) this season.

The personnel have been crucial in this turn-around. Tanev leads the league in blocked shots, while Ekman-Larsson has been a dependable mainstay in the top four. Their presence has dramatically solidified a unit that, with Morgan Rielly and the now-injured Jake McCabe, looks like one of the league’s more formidable back ends.

Of course, coaching plays a role here too. Berube has demanded defensive accountability from all players, implementing a punishing and not-always-pretty brand of hockey that has proven highly effective in terms of keeping the puck out of the net. The improvement of depth defencemen like Simon Benoit, the newly-extended Phillippe Myers, and Conor Timmins has allowed Berube to balance out minutes to the point where Toronto doesn’t have a single player who ranks in the top 50 of average ice time per game.

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Elite Goaltending

Even after looking at the additions of Tanev, the hiring of Berube, and improved defensive depth, we may still not have touched on the biggest factor in the Maple Leafs’ strong goal prevention efforts: elite goaltending.

That is effectively what they’ve gotten from the tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz, with added contributions from Dennis Hildeby and Matt Murray. Even in the face of injuries that pushed back the start of Woll’s season and have Stolarz currently sidelined, the club’s play between the pipes has been impressive. Woll now owns a 13-6-0 record with a 2.48 goals against average (GAA) and a .914 save percentage (SV%), while Stolarz had been a revelation prior to undergoing knee surgery, boasting a 9-5-2 record with a 2.15 GAA and a .927 SV%.

Keep in mind, this was a pairing that came into the season with plenty of question marks. Woll had to answer for a checkered injury history (one that didn’t look anymore promising amidst his earl- season groin injury) and a lack of experience, while Stolarz had never been a full-time number one nor has he played in more than 28 games. And yet, even with Stolarz recovering from knee surgery, a healthy Woll has brought stability to the position, leaving little angst over the 30-year-old’s current absence in spite of how well he’s played.

The NCAA Guys

Scoring is down this season for the Maple Leafs, a logical consequence of the club’s defensive emphasis. Still, goals need to come, especially with last season’s 69-goal man missing so much time. Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares are all delivering in place of Matthews (Marner and Tavares have been excellent in what is a contract year for both), but it is the breakout seasons of NCAA alums Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann that have truly helped boost the team.

In his second full season in Toronto, the 22-year-old Knies has made the jump to top-six mainstay. He has already matched his goal total from a season ago (15) and could be in for an even better second half now that he’s slotted in alongside Matthews and Marner on the top line. In just two games together as a trio, that line has yielded four goals and two assists for Knies, including a first-career hat trick against the Boston Bruins that snapped a nine-game goal drought.

HATTY FOR MATTY!!! pic.twitter.com/E6KT21EmBH

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 5, 2025

McMann hasn’t enjoyed the same lofty slot in the lineup, but then again the 28-year-old wasn’t guaranteed anything when he struggled through training camp and narrowly avoided demotion to the American Hockey League. He has since rewarded that decision with a breakout campaign of his own, scoring 12 goals even while seeing less than 14 minutes of ice time per night on the third line. For all the criticisms that the Maple Leafs front office has faced for the two-year, $6 million contract extension handed to the since-traded Timothy Liljegren last summer, they deserve some credit for locking up McMann on a two-year, $2.7 million deal last March.

The club’s secondary offence will continue to be a focal point heading into the second half, as middle-six forwards like Max Domi and Nicholas Robertson will be expected to do more to ease the scoring burden on the ‘Core Four’. Nevertheless, Knies and McMann’s development have been significant boons for an organization that has long needed more offensive balance.

Things were bound to be a little different this season with a new coach, new goaltender, and a newly-reconfigured blue line. And despite some injury-related challenges and a decrease in scoring, these somewhat new-look Maple Leafs have produced an encouraging first half that has them positioned nicely for a shot at the Atlantic Division crown. Perhaps the lack of angst around Leafs Nation right now (save for Matthews, perhaps) is the biggest surprise of all.