It’s a new year, maybe we’ll get a new Maple Leafs result
It’s 2023! I won’t go through some of the top highlights from 2022 — Catch-67 already took care of that yesterday. But if how they ended the 2022 year against the defending champs is any indication, we’re ready to start 2023 on the right foot.
A new year brings a new sense of hope. Maybe this is it — maybe this is finally Toronto’s year for the playoffs.
Which is kinda weird to say, because we’ve been through this a few times before and all of the important players are almost exactly the same. But we have a couple of new goalies who (until this month) have been pretty great. We have some shiny new toys in the bottom six, including a prospect like Pontus Holmberg who has seemingly come out of nowhere to become a fan and coach favourite.
And we’re expecting to get a shiny new toy (or two) come the deadline, in the form of a trade and/or bringing in Matthew Knies once his NCAA season is over. We don’t know if the big trade acquisition winds up being a forward or a defenseman, but we can 100% expect to debate that 24/7 until the deadline is over.
I know who I’ll have on my wishlist: Conor Garland. Because I’ve always liked him.
LINKS FROM THE BRANCHES
32 Thoughts: What will Maple Leafs’ trade deadline priority be? (video) | by Sportsnet
Joseph Woll is on the comeback trail entering 2023 | by MLHS
Appreciating William Nylander’s hot start to the 2022–23 season with the Maple Leafs | by TLN
Connor Bedard has chased down history, and he’ll chase down more | by Scott Wheeler
At ‘11 Under-18s, Andre Tourigny saw Nikita Kucherov + asked Al Murray, “Is it just me, or is this guy something special?”
Murray smiled, put his finger over his mouth. Two months later, #tblightning picked Kucherov. On Kucherov’s junior days @HuskiesRn https://t.co/w4YVksss7X— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) December 31, 2022
Want to see Max Domi getting booed by Columbus fans during a tribute video about him and Seth Jones? Hell yeah you do!
The Seth Jones/Max Domi tribute video. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/OzO1cc8P6s
— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) December 31, 2022
Have a great new year everyone!