The 2024-25 season for the Toronto Maple Leafs has kicked off strong, and one NHL Insider named Oliver Ekman-Larsson the biggest surprise to Toronto's hot start. Going into the 2024-25 season, the Toronto Maple Leafs had a lot of hype. Bringing in a wealth of role-playing veterans with playoff experience, they coupled their new signings with a new head coach in Craig Berube who is going to extract every ounce of toughness, grit, and passion from these players on the Maple Leafs' journey to the Stanley Cup. Names like Chris Tanev, Anthony Stolarz, Jani Hakanpaa, Max Pacioretty, Steven Lorentz, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson have all come in with winning experience, veteran leadership, and some much-needed size as Toronto has looked transformed from a year ago.