from James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail,

According to Jeff Sagarin, a well-regarded statistician who publishes power rankings for most North American professional sports at USA Today, the Leafs have, so far, had the second-easiest schedule in the league.

By Sagarin’s numbers, they have played the NHL’s top-10 teams just six times, and the top-16 teams only nine times.

But that will quickly change. Starting Wednesday, the Leafs will play good teams almost every night for 11 games in a row, including powerhouses such as the Pittsburgh Penguins (twice), San Jose Sharks, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks.

In all, it means facing top-10 teams in Sagarin’s list eight times in the next 20 days.

The timing for this part of the Leafs schedule – which will also coincide with HBO beginning to film its invasive 24/7 documentary series – isn’t ideal. Toronto has won only two games in regulation in its last 10 (4-5-1) and is coming off a 6-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets last Monday that had fans booing them off the Air Canada Centre ice.

more