{"id":220,"date":"2022-08-22T04:16:10","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T04:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/?p=220"},"modified":"2022-08-22T04:16:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T04:16:10","slug":"three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this post, I’m going to look at the upcoming 2022-23 regular season to offer some thoughts to Toronto Maple Leafs’ fans – and random thoughts they are – as the team heads into the season. I think this could be a great season for the Blue and White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: Maple Leafs News & Rumors: Kadri, Hirvonen, McMann & Bunting<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thought One: The Maple Leafs Might Be Better This Season than Last Season<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like Jack Campbell or not, last season the\u00a0Toronto Maple Leafs\u00a0had the 27th worst goaltending<\/a> in the NHL in five-on-five hockey.\u00a0 As reported in Editor in Leaf, every other team with goaltending that ranked that low missed the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Matt Murray, Maple Leafs Goalie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In fact, the Maple Leafs’ team out-performed their goalie play by a wide margin. Even with the goalie play being so poor, the Maple Leafs had the fourth-best record in the entire NHL. No one who matters much is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How will Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov do? Even if they just do as well as last season’s goalies, the team should do as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thought Two: The Core Four Remains the Core Four<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like them or not; think the team shouldn’t have so much money wrapped up in four players or not; disagree with the team’s philosophy or not; the fact is that Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander still are on the team’s first two lines. They were last season, and they are this season.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
William Nylander, Maple Leafs Rookie Card<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The only one of those players that’s past his physical prime is Tavares, and he’s still almost a point-a-game player. Every single one of the other players is getting bettereveryy season. Does anyone want to bet there’s an offensive fall-off with either of Matthews, Marner, or Nylander? Not soon is the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: MAPLE LEAFS RANDOM THOUGHTS: WHAT TO DO WITH ALEX KERFOOT?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thought Three: The Maple Leafs Have More Pieces in Place this Season than Last Season<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last season the top two lines were pretty solid. But after that, who knew? Two key pieces came to the team last season – one was Michael Bunting, who found a huge spot on the first line as a partner with Marner and Matthews. The second piece was David Kampf, who became the shutdown center of a third line that truly was a strong contributor to the team. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Nicolas Aube-Kubel, now with the Maple Leafs (numbered Upper Deck card)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This season the team’s project has been the fourth line, and there’s a huge parade of possibilities of players who might make a difference. Nicolas Aube-Kubel might be the most physical player on the team. Adam Gaudette is looking for a rebound season. Then there are a host of young Marlies players willing and anxious (if not completely ready) for prime-time action. Surely the coaching staff can find three of those players who can make life tough for the opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For these three reasons alone – and there are more – I’m so looking forward to the coming season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: Is Maple Leafs\u2019 Pontus Holmberg the Second-Line Answer?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this post, I’m going to look at the upcoming 2022-23 regular season to offer some thoughts to Toronto Maple Leafs’ fans – and random thoughts they are – as the team heads into the season. I think this could be a great season for the Blue and White. Related: Maple Leafs News & Rumors:…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[35,42,36,37],"class_list":["post-220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-auston-matthews","tag-john-tavares","tag-mitch-marner","tag-william-nylander"],"yoast_head":"\nThree Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season - Old Prof Hockey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season - Old Prof Hockey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this post, I’m going to look at the upcoming 2022-23 regular season to offer some thoughts to Toronto Maple Leafs’ fans – and random thoughts they are – as the team heads into the season. I think this could be a great season for the Blue and White. Related: Maple Leafs News & Rumors:…Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Prof Hockey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.parsons.140\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.parsons.140\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-22T04:16:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/auston-matthews-rc.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"980\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"oldprof\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheOldProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheOldProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"oldprof\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"oldprof\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/81a8c3725c205de50e2cb8240b64d72f\"},\"headline\":\"Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-22T04:16:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-22T04:16:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/\"},\"wordCount\":530,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/81a8c3725c205de50e2cb8240b64d72f\"},\"keywords\":[\"Auston Matthews\",\"John Tavares\",\"Mitch Marner\",\"William Nylander\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Toronto Maple Leafs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/\",\"name\":\"Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season - Old Prof Hockey\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-22T04:16:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-22T04:16:10+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/\",\"name\":\"Old Prof Hockey\",\"description\":\"Random Thoughts About The NHL from an Old Prof\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/81a8c3725c205de50e2cb8240b64d72f\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/81a8c3725c205de50e2cb8240b64d72f\",\"name\":\"oldprof\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Old-Prof-avatar.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Old-Prof-avatar.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"oldprof\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.parsons.140\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheOldProf\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/author\/oldprof1976\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season - Old Prof Hockey","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season - Old Prof Hockey","og_description":"In this post, I’m going to look at the upcoming 2022-23 regular season to offer some thoughts to Toronto Maple Leafs’ fans – and random thoughts they are – as the team heads into the season. I think this could be a great season for the Blue and White. Related: Maple Leafs News & Rumors:…Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/","og_site_name":"Old Prof Hockey","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.parsons.140","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.parsons.140","article_published_time":"2022-08-22T04:16:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":980,"url":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/auston-matthews-rc.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"oldprof","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheOldProf","twitter_site":"@TheOldProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"oldprof","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/"},"author":{"name":"oldprof","@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/81a8c3725c205de50e2cb8240b64d72f"},"headline":"Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season","datePublished":"2022-08-22T04:16:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-22T04:16:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/"},"wordCount":530,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/81a8c3725c205de50e2cb8240b64d72f"},"keywords":["Auston Matthews","John Tavares","Mitch Marner","William Nylander"],"articleSection":["Toronto Maple Leafs"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/","url":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/","name":"Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season - Old Prof Hockey","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-08-22T04:16:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-22T04:16:10+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/three-reasons-the-maple-leafs-should-have-a-great-2022-23-season\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Have a Great 2022-23 Season"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/","name":"Old Prof Hockey","description":"Random Thoughts About The NHL from an Old Prof","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/81a8c3725c205de50e2cb8240b64d72f"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/81a8c3725c205de50e2cb8240b64d72f","name":"oldprof","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Old-Prof-avatar.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Old-Prof-avatar.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"oldprof"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.parsons.140","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheOldProf"],"url":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/author\/oldprof1976\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}