We closed off the final chapter of 2024 recently and did the same for another month in the 2024-25 NHL season. We’re now three months into the NHL season, and it’s time to check in on five former Toronto Maple Leafs to see how they’re doing with their new teams after leaving the organization.

If any Chicago Blackhawks fans were worried about Tyler Bertuzzi’s slow start after scoring just three goals in October and five through the first two months of the season, I’ve got some good news for you: he’s now up to 12 goals on the season following a seven-goal performance this past month.

Bertuzzi’s start to this season mirrors his start to last season with the Maple Leafs in some ways. Through the first nine games, he scored just two goals and added three more in November through the first two months. He struggled into December with Toronto and didn’t find his groove until February.

The hope for the Blackhawks and their fans is that Bertuzzi can continue to produce for the team during yet another rough season. After all, he inked a pretty hefty four-year contract, and they’d like him to be one of the main contributors to the team.

Ilya Samsonov has taken a backseat to Adin Hill since his rough patch in late October, but the 27-year-old has been a stud between the pipes since his second game back from injury in mid-November, despite just playing in seven games in that span. Samsonov allowed 13 goals in three games from October 26th – November 17th, but has since allowed just 17 goals in seven games, with just five goals allowed in four games in December

Samsonov entered December with a record of 5-3-1 and an .892 save percentage, well below the league average of .900, but has since gone undefeated in four games last month, stopping 91 shots, good enough for a .948 save percentage through December. This run from Samsonov has improved his season numbers to a .906 save percentage, helping his team climb the league standings to second overall, just two points behind the Winnipeg Jets, with two games in hand.

It might be a Chicago thing, but T.J. Brodie, like Tyler Bertuzzi, had a productive December following a rough October and November. After recording just four points through the first two months of the 2024-25 campaign, Brodie scored his first two goals as a Blackhawk and added two assists for four points in 14 games last month.

After a four-point performance in December, Brodie has improved his season totals to eight points in 35 games, putting him on pace for 18 points. Those 18 points would be the lowest total in a season where he’s played 60 or more games since the 2019-20 season when he recorded just 19 points in 64 games.

But points are not everything, and Brodie’s play away from the puck has been declining since the second half of the 2022-23 season with the Maple Leafs. An aging player, who is declining, on a team that is not good defensively, he doesn’t seem like a match made in heaven right about now. Brodie’s ice time this season (15:55) is significantly down from last season (21:43) and down from his career average dating back to his rookie season in 2010-11 (22:00), further evidence that he’s not the same player he once was and the Blackhawks don’t have to rely on him as much.

It feels like Joel Edmundson’s explosive offensive start to the season was so long ago, but the rugged, defence-first blue liner found that offence in December, scoring his fourth goal of the season and adding two assists for three points in 11 games.

Three points in 11 games might not seem like a lot, even for some defencemen, but Edmundson has never been known for offence, rather relied on for his defensive presence and physicality, as Maple Leaf fans saw firsthand last season when the 31-year-old was dealt to Toronto from Washington in exchange for a couple of draft picks.

Edmundson now has ten points in 34 games, putting him on pace to finish the season with 24 points, which would be a new career high.

The San Jose Sharks are still in the basement of the league after just drafting Macklin Celebrini first overall in the 2024 NHL draft. Timothy Liljegren, who was traded by Toronto at the end of October, didn’t land there to compete for a Stanley Cup. He was picked up by the Sharks hoping that a change of scenery would help elevate his game.

Liljegren’s time in Toronto didn’t go as planned. He was a first-round pick in 2017 and looked at as a crucial part of the Maple Leafs’ blue line for years to come. Unfortunately, he couldn’t elevate past a third-pair role and was outplayed in training camp by several players.

Within the first month with the Sharks, Liljegren was on a hot streak, recording a four-game point streak and finishing November with five points in his first 15 games with his new club. Liljegren found the scoresheet just twice with two assists in 12 games in December and the Sharks haven’t been doing any better, as they dropped their eighth straight game Tuesday to the Philadelphia Flyers.