The Toronto Maple Leafs are a very interesting team going into the 2023-24 season. The Leafs are a fantastic regular season team that has been know to fail in the playoffs. The Maple Leafs have had a solid offseason and look primed to have another chance at a playoff run. They will have to do this without the help of two important pieces.
According to Elliotte Friedman, the Maple Leafs are going to be with out Jake Muzzin and Matt Murray for the entire season yet again. The team will have to believe in their younger players to fill the void of these two players being out of the line up.
For Muzzin, he was only able to suit up in 4 games last year before having a cervical spine injury that kept him out for the rest of the season. Muzzin, a stay-at-home defenseman, logged major minutes for the leafs back-end since joining them in a trade from LA, that brought Carl Grundstrom, the rights to Sean Durzi and a 2019 first-round pick (Tobias Bjornfot).
With Muzzin out, the Maple Leafs struggled to find someone to replace his minutes and style of play, eventually trading for Luke Schenn to play a similar style. The Leafs lost Schenn and didn't address it in the offseason as they acquired John Klingberg, an offensively-minded d-man. The Leafs will look at all their players to do the job by committee.
For Murray, he played in 26 games last season before an undisclosed injury that we now know requires a "significant" surgery ended his season. Murray was "available" in the playoffs when Samsonov went down but the Leafs decided to go with Joseph Woll.
With Murray out the Leafs will have to roll with the same duo as last year, Woll and Samsonov. Samsonov had great numbers last year but struggled with injuries. This season the Leafs will hope to see him back to full health. The Leafs will also hope that Joseph Woll has continued his development in Murray's absence.
