The Toronto Maple Leafs are now 20 games into the 2025–26 NHL season, and the results have been disappointing to say the least. Fans and media alike knew that losing star right winger Mitch Marner in the offseason might take some time to get used to, but with the team currently sitting at a 9–9–2 record, learning to play without Marner is just one of many issues the Leafs currently face.
One of the major issues the team has experienced, which is also majorly influencing their poor performance thus far, is the team’s overall lack of speed. The Leafs haven’t had that extra gear to start the season, and it has shown through their sluggish play, inability to win puck races and more.
The elusive speed burst
To truly understand the negative impact that the Leafs’ lack of speed is having on their season, we have to take a look back at the speed stats of previous Leafs teams and compare them to the current squad. Specifically, we will look at their speed-burst stats, and according to NHL Edge, “Bursts measure the number of times skaters sustained a speed above a given threshold.”
In 2021–22, the Leafs were near the top of the league in multiple speed-burst categories. They ranked fifth in the league in speed bursts between 18–20 mph, with 8650 on the season. They ranked seventh in both speed bursts between 20–22 mph and speed bursts 22 mph or above, with 1861 and 99, respectively. Even in the next season, in 2022–23, the Leafs were solid speed-wise, finishing fourth in speed bursts between 18–20 mph with 8236 on the season, and fifth in speed bursts between 20–22 mph with 1780.
Fast forward to today, and those impressive speed-burst stats have disappeared, with the Leafs being outside the top 10 in all three speed-burst tiers, with their best ranking being 16th in speed bursts of 22 mph or more–a stark contrast from the earlier seasons of the 2020s.
Additionally, when it comes to NHL players with the highest overall skating speed this season, William Nylander is the only Leaf in the top 10, sitting at ninth. And while the average NHL team has four players with two 20-plus mph bursts per game this season, the Leafs only have one withBobby McMann at 2.7, the 38th highest in the league. The next closest is Nylander with 1.4.
Will it work?
It is clear that the Leafs have become a slower team over the years, but to make matters worse, the rest of the league is trending in the opposite direction. According to Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic, utilizing NHL Edge data, as the Leafs’ speed bursts above 18 mph per game have decreased since 2021–22, the rest of the league has seen an increase. So what is already a problem on its own is being made even more polarizing by the increased speed amongst the rest of the field.
Leafs after 20 📊📈📉
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) November 19, 2025
The Leafs have found their identity: They're sloooooooow 🐌https://t.co/OLxqLpc7YY pic.twitter.com/KeKFifqXsz
While some of this lack of speed may come down to age–the Leafs in 2025–26 certainly don’t have as fresh a set of legs as the 2018–19 Leafs–it is still a problem nonetheless and has led to the Leafs being 26th in the league in speed bursts per game. And while there are teams that can and have excelled at playing a slower style of hockey, like the current Dallas Stars, the Leafs’ slower style, whether it is intentional or not, simply isn’t working, and it may be time for head coach Craig Berube to rethink his team’s game plan going forward in an attempt to turn this season around.
