Recapping the five most memorable Toronto Maple Leafs moments of 2022

Recapping the five most memorable Toronto Maple Leafs moments of 2022

The Maple Leafs had some amazing moments in 2022. It might just be their most memorable calendar year in a long, long time.

It began with a memorable moment from Auston Matthews and it ended with Mitch Marner making history, But we also can’t forget about what happened in the middle, right?
So, with 2022 coming to an end, I thought it’d be best to look back on the year and all of the incredible moments surrounding the Maple Leafs.
Enjoy!
5 – Game 1 of first round vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

The Maple Leafs couldn’t have had a better start to the 2022 playoffs, quite literally.
Toronto filled Tampa’s net with five goals, courtesy of Jake Muzzin, David Kampf, Marner, and Matthews, who scored a pair. From start to finish, the Maple Leafs outplayed the Lightning, not even allowing a goal against.
This was the start of an incredible seven games, and although we now know the outcome, I’m sure we can all agree that it was Toronto’s best playoff series in a while.
Right?
4 – Game 3 of first round vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

Both the Maple Leafs and Lightning were headed back to Toronto with the series all tied up at two. Although the winner of Game 5 would have the chance to be one win away from getting to the second round.
This was an amazing game. You had Tampa scoring two goals in the first period, and at that point it seemed like the game might’ve been out of reach. But Toronto came back, with John Tavares scoring in the second period, and Morgan Rielly tying it early in the third.
1:13 later and William Nylander scored, which put Scotiabank Arena and Maple Leafs Square into a craze. That was, until Ryan McDonagh tied it back up at three.
The madness wasn’t over though because Matthews and Marner had a two-on-one, and Marner shot it off of Andrei Vasilevskiy’s pad and Matthews put it in.
Toronto won that game 4 …

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Author: Nick Barden / The Leafs Nation

Pierre Engvall has signed a one-year extension with the Leafs

Mere moments before the salary arbitration deadline, Pierre Engvall has signed an extension with the Leafs.

We’ve signed forward Pierre Engvall to a one-year contract extension.#LeafsForever
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) July 17, 2022

The new contract pays him $2.25 million for the 2022-23 season, a nice pay raise given he is coming off a two-year deal that had a $1.25 million AAV.
Today was the deadline for RFAs with the option to file for arbitration could apply for one. Had Engvall decided to go this route, it would have established a hearing date for when he and the Leafs would debate over what the player should be paid and have that decided by a third-party arbitrator.
Avoiding this route entirely rids the team and Engvall of the pressure, meaning now the Leafs only have to worry about getting Rasmus Sandin’s contract sorted out since he is the last RFA they need to sign.
Engvall is coming off his breakout season where he set career highs all across the board with 15 goals, 20 assists, and 35 points, good enough for eighth on the team in scoring. He also added on three assists in seven playoff games, although all of them came in Game 3 against the Lightning. In addition, he posted some impressive underlying metrics all across the board at 5v5.
PLAYER
CF%
FF%
SF%
GF%
XGF%
SCF%
HDCF%
HDGF%
PDO
PIERRE ENGVALL
54.44
53.70
54.03
56.90
54.92
56.03
53.66
45.95
1.007
It was an impressive season that catapulted him to become one of the Leafs’ most important secondary scoring options and an integral part of the team’s future. Given that two-thirds of what made up a dominant third line made their departure in free agency, (Ilya Mikheyev and Ondrej Kase) getting Engvall to an extension was of the utmost importance and getting it done right at the deadline was a close call. Now the question remains who will be joining him and David Kampf to make up for the revamped third line.
As a result of Engvall’s contract, the Leafs are now $1.5 million over the salary cap heading into the 2022-23 season with 13 forwards, seven defencemen, and two goalies. A trade is almost certainly going to come in the weeks ahead that will clear up the necessary cap space to get Sandin’s contract done and add a top-six forward to the mix since improving the John Tavares line remains a top priority. (perhaps Nino Niederreiter or Sonny Milano)
Related:
Best of what’s left: pooper scooping free agency for the Leafs
Kyle Dubas’ summer is far from over, but he got a key piece under contract for next season. Now the focus shifts to their 2018 first-round pick and his new extension.
Stats from Hockey-Reference.com and Natural Stat Trick.
Salary information from PuckPe …

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Author: Michael Mazzei / The Leafs Nation