The ship has sailed on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2025-26 season. Several key player injuries significantly hampered the Maple Leafs’ playoff aspirations this season. The team went from being a dark horse contender to languishing at the bottom of the Atlantic Division, where it currently sits with 45 points.
The Leafs emerged at the top of the Division last season with 108 points, solidifying faith in HC Craig Berube. This season has been disappointing to the extent that Berube’s tenure seemed threatened at one point. Analysts have stepped in with their ideas, weighing in on the nightmare this season has become for the League’s most expensive franchise.
Analyst Forwards Critique of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ No-Show this Season
The Maple Leafs’ record at this point stands at 19-15-7. The team has been pushed to the margin of irredeemability, and playoff odds are looking a little too steeped in fairytale right now. In a recent contribution to The Athletic, Dom Luszczyszyn estimates the Leafs’ chances of making the playoffs to be around 35%. The analyst also noted that the chances of the Leafs reaching the finals and lifting the Stanley Cup are close to zero, at 3% and 1%, respectively.
The Leafs’ transformation from Atlantic Division heroes to their current state in just a single season warrants attention. Of course, it has much to do with the departure of franchise superstar Mitch Marner and the inability to find a suitable replacement. It can also be attributed to the difficulty the Leafs have faced in maintaining consistency. Injuries crippled Auston Matthews, and so has William Nylander. Leading point-scorer Nylander has missed four consecutive games now, being sidelined by a lower-body injury.
What makes it worse is Luszczyszyn’s reminder that this could have been the Maple Leafs’ season. While the Maple Leafs still attempt to salvage the team’s reputation after a forgettable season so far, the analyst pointed out that the team has repeatedly missed the mark overall this season. “That the Leafs have fallen so far in the first half despite playing the League’s fourth-easiest schedule is yet another sign this team isn’t good enough. If it were, injuries wouldn’t be an excuse,” stated Luszczyszyn.
The odds were in the Leafs’ favor in the form of a breezy schedule. According to the analyst, notwithstanding the injuries, the team could have handled the situation better by showing up; the fact that it failed to do so says a lot about the Leafs this season.
Luszczyszyn also drew upon the examples of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Carolina Hurricanes. The Lightning and the Canes are two teams that have had worse injury luck but have managed to cling to the upper rungs of their respective divisions, despite aggressive competition.
Perhaps what the Leafs need to do right now is strategize around the injuries and not let them be a reason for their persistent underperformance.
