For the eighth straight season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are headed to the playoffs.
Even though the Leafs didn’t play Friday night, they still punched their ticket to the playoffs with losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals.
WERE IN. pic.twitter.com/rCVGTXF1j1
– Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) April 6, 2024
As a result, Toronto remains tied with the Boston Bruins for the longest active playoff streak in the NHL. The Leafs’ eight consecutive playoff appearances are the longest streak for the organization in 43 years. Qualifying for the playoffs for the eighth straight season comes after Toronto only made the playoffs once between the 2005-06 and 2015-16 seasons.
The Leafs have now made the playoffs in every season with Sheldon Keefe as coach and in Brad Treliving’s first season as general manager. Toronto also became the ninth NHL team to qualify for the playoffs this season.
“You start seeing the ‘X’ next to teams in the standings and you get jealous. I want an ‘X’ next to our team,” Leafs forward Nick Robertson said before Wednesday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Toronto is currently on pace to finish with 103 points. The Leafs finished last season with 111 points and reached their franchise-high 82 games with 115 points in 2021-22.
Their playoff berth comes as the team has been hit hard by the injury bug this season, losing John Klingberg to season-ending hip surgery, while players like Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly, Joseph Woll and Calle Järnkrok also experienced long periods in the press box due to injury.
Many of the team’s offseason acquisitions, including Ryan Reaves and Tyler Bertuzzi, took time to acclimate to Toronto and did not produce as hoped. Ilya Samsonov, the Leafs’ starting goaltender, suffered a poor start to the season and was released on December 31, casting doubt on his NHL future.
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Still, the second half of Toronto’s season has been full of positives: Auston Matthews continues to solidify his position as the greatest Leaf of all time with his second 60-goal campaign, becoming the ninth player in Toronto history NHL to do this. Matthews has since set a new Toronto single-season record with an outrageous 63 goals in 74 games in the 2023-24 season.
Matthews appears destined to win his third Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top scorer.
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William Nylander is in the midst of the best season of his career, with 40 goals, tied for a career high, and 95 points in 75 games, also a career high.
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Offseason free agent acquisitions, including Reaves, Bertuzzi and Max Domi, found their game and became reliable contributors in the second half of the season. Bobby McMann, Matthew Knies and Nick Robertson all progressed in their development during the second half of the season.
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And Samsonov has bounced back from his early season struggles by playing some of his most composed hockey as a Leaf with a .906 save percentage since February. He was named the Leafs’ Masterton Trophy candidate on Friday.
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Toronto currently sits third in the Atlantic Division and is now six points behind the Florida Panthers with two games in hand. The two teams will face off once again this season on April 16 in a game that could determine playoff seeding.
(Photo: Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)