Toronto Maple Leafs NHL17 2016-2017 Season Simulations
Oct 6, 2016; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) reacts aftyer scoring agoal against the Montreal Canadiens during the first period of a preseason hockey game at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
The Toronto Maple Leafs season starts tomorrow against the Ottawa Senators, but there have been a few simulations so far.
EA Sports ran through their yearly simulation and FanSided’s own App Trigger ran their own simulation of the 2016-2017 NHL season. The Toronto Maple Leafs did pretty well in both.
Let’s take a look at those two simulations before getting into how our own simulation went for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
EA Sports
In EA’s simulation, the Toronto Maple Leafs shocked the hockey world by claiming a wildcard spot for the NHL Playoffs with a 91 point season.
The Leafs finished ahead of Detroit, Ottawa, Buffalo and Boston in the Atlantic Division.
The EA sim doesn’t show the Leafs record, but we can assume it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 wins.
Toronto was swept in four games by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Auston Matthews took home the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year.
App Trigger
In the App Trigger simulation, the Leafs shocked the hockey world even more than in EA’s.
The Leafs finished 2nd in the Atlantic Division with 97 points, sporting a 45-30-7 record.
Here’s a quote from App Trigger’s sim:
Meanwhile, it was center Nazem Kadri that led the team in points with 62 (29 goals, 33 assists), putting together a solid performance through 82 games. The real breakout star of the Leafs ended up being defenseman Morgan Rielly. The 23-year-old put up 61 points thanks to a team-high 48 assists.
I have a feeling that this 97 point fictional season might generate some real-life anger.
In the playoffs for App Trigger’s sim, the Leafs knocked off Montreal 4-1 in the first round and the New York Islanders 4-1 in the second round.
They then fell 4-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Final.
Now, I have no idea whether or not either simulation included Nikita Zaitsev – who isn’t currently in the NHL17 game – but for the purpose of the Editor In Leaf sim, I created him.
He has a modest 82 rating, which matches Matt Hunwick’s ridiculous rating, so take it with a grain of salt. Let’s get into what happened in our sim.
Oct 2, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner (16) controls the puck against the Montreal Canadiens during a preseason hockey game at Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs beat the Canadiens 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Editor In Leaf NHL17 Simulation
Like I said in the previous slide, I added in Nikita Zaitsev at an 82 rating. I used the current roster for the Leafs (excluding Lupul, Horton, Greening, Laich) for the entire season – and I actually played Roman Polak at times.
Record: 44-32-6
Playoff Seeding: 4th Atlantic, 1st Wildcard
Top Five In Goals
Top Five In Assists
Top Five In Points
Goaltending Statistics
Andersen: .924 save percentage, 35-19-2
Enroth: .909 save percentage, 9-11-3
Sparks: .851 save percentage, 0-3-0
Mitch Marner finished with 40 points in 82 games. Morgan Rielly led all the defenders with 35 points and Auston Matthews out-goaled, out-assisted and out-pointed Patrik Laine.
The Leafs finished ahead of Boston, Detroit, Florida and Buffalo in this simulation for the Atlantic Division and qualified for the post-season as the first wildcard.
Toronto was bounced in the first round by New Jersey 4-1.
Auston Matthews took home the Calder Trophy in simulation-land once again as the leagues top rookie.
What all three of these simulations fail to account for is the human factor. By human factor I mean the Polak/Hunwick/Martin factors. Each of the three are lofty expectations for a young group of players, with the post-season being reached in all.
Let us know your thoughts on the simulations and what your results were if you did a simulation on NHL17.
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