from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,
Toronto produced just 16 goals in 13 January games — five of which came in the only victory it registered all month. That average of 1.23 was slightly worse than what the St. Patricks had in February 1927 (1.25) and the rebranded Maple Leafs had in January 1929 (1.31), which happens to be the last NHL season before the forward pass was introduced.
This is a team with Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri at forward and offensively-minded Cody Franson, Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner on defence. It is a flawed group, one that will again miss the playoffs, but there was absolutely nothing to forecast the depths of futility it would mine during an ice-cold January.
As a collective, the Leafs managed just a 4.2 shooting percentage while actually playing a style more conducive to success than they did under previous coach Randy Carlyle. They have cut down significantly on the number of chances against while generating shots at a similar rate to when they were the NHL’s highest-scoring outfit.
Toronto might not be very good, but it is clearly not very lucky either.
This poses some difficult questions for Brendan Shanahan and a revamped Leafs front office whose lone holdover from the collapses of the past three seasons is Dave Nonis. Four weeks out from the March 2 trade deadline, how drastic should the changes be? How much stock should be placed in the results of the last month? Is it time to start some form of rebuild?
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