I'm not disagreeing that most teams outmatch us physically or that we don't need to use our size more effectively, just that raw hit differentials don't really mean any of the stuff you're trying to show them to mean.
Our hits/game went down and our hits taken/game went down under Keefe, did we get less physical and more elusive overnight? Or are we just not running the dump and chase nearly as often anymore, and controlled entries with short passes don't rely on physicality?
I understand what you are saying, but it is not really my point. Some teams play styles that result in more contact during games and more hits for both teams. The Leafs' have switched to a style in which they hit and get hit less often than while under Babcock, but they still get hit a lot more than they hit because other teams know they can.
People on here, some of the same people who are rejecting what I am saying, have used the fact that the Leafs' have thrown as many hits as they have received over the last three playoffs as proof that they are not a soft team. Over that three year period they have played a style in which if they bring it they throw as many hits as they receive. But in the regular season they went from taking 10% more hits than they gave in 2017 to 20% more hits than they gave in 2018 to 40% more hits than they gave in 2019, to now 50% more. Teams know that they can take liberties without consequences. Management recognizes that is happening and for instance brought in Clifford.
Now hits for and against may be flawed way of showing that this team is being taken advantage of - something I acknowledged from the start.
But we don't track the number of times that a goalie was given a shot with no response, or the number of times that a young player was roughed up with no response, or the number of times that a Leafs' player was on the receiving end of a bad hit and no one did anything, or the number of times that opposing players stand in the crease completely untouched, or the number of board battles we lose etc.
Earlier in the week I was watching some games from the fall (the Leafs were involved in none of these games) and early in one of those games Kucherov tried to slide in front of the net and was removed from that area immediately and hard. He looked a good deal more tentative when going near the net after that. Nothing was going to be given to him. He had to earn it. He had to be very sneaky - and that is the way it should be. Matthews and Nylander score a lot of goals from up close, but again, they have to be deceptive to get to those areas. No one wants to give them an inch. It is generally way too easy to get into those spots against the Leafs without paying a price. It is way to easy to give a questionable hit against the Leafs without paying a price. It is way to easy to give Freddie a little shot after the whistle without paying a price. Teams want to win and they will take as much as they are allowed.