Analytics site gives Toronto Maple Leafs four-in-five chance of missing playoffs
For much of the last decade, the Toronto Maple Leafs could pretty much be counted on for one thing: they’d always be in the playoffs.
Sure, everyone’s heard all the jokes about the team’s postseason failures, but they’ve made the playoffs so far in every season since Auston Matthews’ rookie season.
For an entire generation of Leafs fans, making plans for April — and yes, occasionally even May — has been a yearly routine.
The team’s playoff streak is the NHL’s longest at nine years, but they are already at serious risk of missing the postseason.
Sitting 14th in the Eastern Conference with an 8-8-1 record, the Leafs don’t exactly look like a playoff team right now, even if there is still more than 75 per cent of the season remaining.
It’s quite a far cry from where Toronto ended last season, losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in seven games in the second round of the playoffs.
Will the Leafs make the playoffs?
On paper, they’re just a single point out from a playoff spot, and it might be way too early to be sounding the alarm.
But one popular analytics site isn’t exactly liking their playoff chances.
MoneyPuck.com gives Toronto a mere 21 per cent shot of making the postseason, just slightly over one-in-five odds.
In the Atlantic Division, that’s ahead of only the Buffalo Sabres (six per cent), with the Leafs also being in second-to-last place of their own divisional standings.
The standard numbers aren’t all that great either: Toronto has just one road win all season (to go with four losses), and has been outscored 62-65 this season.
If the Leafs are hoping to turn those numbers around, their next chance will be Thursday night, when they host the Los Angeles Kings at Scotiabank Arena.
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