Are the Toronto Maple Leafs ... Bad? How do they fix this?

Can it be fixed this season?

Earlier this week we looked at six surprising starts in the NHL (both good and bad) and whether or not you should buy or sell those starts. There was one team that could have been included in that list that I intentionally omitted because I thought they were deserving of a deeper, more detailed look on their own.

That team: The Toronto Maple Leafs.

Because what in the holy hell is going on over there?

Even though this era of Maple Leafs hockey has produced consistently disappointing playoff results (and sometimes sneaky underwhelming regular season results) you have known for the past decade that they would at least be in the playoffs and be some kind of a factor in the NHL.

They have been good. At times very good. Sometimes flirting with even better than very good.

But there has always been some kind of shortcoming or flaw that has held them back from taking the next step, and nobody’s ever been able to get the recipe right.

Sometimes it is the defense.

Sometimes it is the goaltending.

Sometimes it is a lack of offense in the playoffs from their stars.

Sometimes it is a lack of offense in the playoffs from everybody else around their stars.

Sometimes it is a lack of offense in the playoffs from the stars AND everybody else around their stars.

They have tried to add more grit. They have spent through the nose in terms of assets to try and get better defenders and “playoff-type” players. They gutted their draft pick capital and prospect pool last year to acquire Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton at the trade deadline. They finally dumped one of their core players this offseason — Mitch Marner — to make a dramatic change to the core.

What they are looking at now is a team that, entering play on Thursday, is 8-8-1 through the first 17 games, has the second-worst points percentage in the Eastern Conference, and is off to the the worst start of the Matthews era. Even worse, Matthews is set to miss Thursday’s game against the Kings after leaving their most recent game with an injury.

Prior to this season, their worst 17-game start in the Matthews era was an 8-6-3 start in his rookie season back in 2016-17.

They are two points off that pace. They have had at least 21 points through 17 games in every other season since then and averaged 22 points.

They are five points off that. pace.

Even worse, this team just looks … kind of broken. They are boring. They are dull. They do not do anything particularly well and there are flaws and concerns all over the roster. It is not a great look right now.

Let’s talk about it.