Sportsnet: Maple Leafs must add proven defenders, move on from all-offence identity

[Buds17]

Two of the three losses for the Leafs involved no goals for. Defence would have been a problem at times, but... Sounds like the all offence identity wasn't always exactly as advertised.

 

[Trapper]

Two of the three losses for the Leafs involved no goals for. Defence would have been a problem at times, but... Sounds like the all offence identity wasn't always exactly as advertised.

Strong D can also lead to offense whether it’s a strong forecheck, forcing teams into mistakes which can lead to different types of scoring chances or wearing down/frustrating opponents. A defensive team doesn’t get frustrated keeping you to the outside/low quality and can play all day if the forecheck pressure is minimum.

 

[Kiwi]

For an all "offense" team we sure did struggle to score goals
We didn't exactly give up a ton of goals during the series either

It wasn't exactly a series of 5-4 games, but maybe I'm misrembering?

 

[kevsh]

I know this may come off as heresy, but is it not possible that the tweaks made by Keefe to deal with Columbus' forecheck and defensive system stifled their own offence?

Defensively, they seemed to hold up against the cycle better than expected, but the transition game was missing and for a team better suited to possession entries the Leafs were dumping the puck in the Jackets zone a lot but not generating scoring chances on nearly enough of of them. They are not a hard forechecking team so the turnovers - or just flat out beating opposing defenders to the puck - didn't happen.

The stretch passes seemed to work well in game 2, but for most of the series Toronto d-men were constantly circling in their own end looking for a target. Forwards trying to carry the puck didn't have much success. So when they carry it in, they get stopped. When the dump it in, they don't recover it. When they do, there were no forwards getting free in the slot.

It seems that the cure was worse than the illness here. They don't have the personnel to play the system they tried against Columbus, but their possession-based system is too easily negated by a disciplined team like the Jackets. So they either change the personnel and adopt a more playoff-friendly approach or perfect a skill-based system that beats it. I don't think either path will be easy - the latter because there's no real evidence that such a system exists, the former because it involves at least a soft rebuild - but it's a choice they have to make.

 

[Cleetus]

For an all "offense" team we sure did struggle to score goals
We didn't exactly give up a ton of goals during the series either

It wasn't exactly a series of 5-4 games, but maybe I'm misrembering?

getting shutout twice... is unacceptable for a team built to score....

 

[Mehar]

Fingers crossed Dubas cannot bullshit his way into another year.

My Fingers Crossed also. Dubas had enough time. Time for him to go.

 

[Cleetus]

My Fingers Crossed also. Dubas had enough time. Time for him to go.

ah he will be here for another year, with a vision that does not work...., another year will be lost, with a vision that is a total failure, he got his coach he has to be running out of chances.

 

[Shanwhatplan]

7/10 most offensive teams are still in the playoffs.

This is biased article given the premature exit but that is what is expected. I still know that leafs have a good core of matthews, tavares, rielly, anderson and honestly making trades always carry huge risks that more often works against you than for you. I am fine with the leafs keeping an offensive identity but they ofcourse need to fill in the holes just like any other team.

What's really needs to change is the mentality and playing with effort consistently. I dont know how to change that maybe its the coach or a few bad players. Either way adding in a star defenseman at the expense of creating another hole is not going to change that.

I should have stopped reading when you included Andersen in your list. Face it, at some important point in a series, and usually in more than just one game, he is going to let in a bad goal. He is not the goalie to take us where we want to go.
And if the Leafs are such a strong offensive team, then it shouldn’t create a hole in the lineup by trading at least one of them in order to bolster our defence.
As far as I’m concerned, Dubas needs to do a 180 on his philosophy. Hopefully he realizes he’s not smarter than everybody else. And Shanahan needs to be held accountable as well.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Before he was given the "mod" status I've had plenty of debates with him; I know where he stands when it comes to dubas and analytics.

Lets look at the result from the entire season then -> do you recall pulling your hair out pre-covid when this team played in it's own zone? I do. This isn't just the CBJ series it has been like that for a while now.

CBJ series is just the tip of the ice-berg. Everytime we had the puck at the point in the offensive zone we were covered or the lanes were closed so shots were blocked;

Werenski, Jones, Savard they had free lanes taking shots from point; the first goal last night, for example, why the hell did Werenski have so much time and space to float a shot; we left the points open and played chicken in the D-zone.

Freddy had to cheat because he had absolutely ZERO faith in the team's defensive ability especially in their own zone; Korpisalo on the other hand only had to be aware of few lanes where he knew shots might come; other than that leafs were mostly kept to the outside.

CBJ is opportunistic they wait for you to make mistake and then pounce on it; and leafs make plenty of defensively boneheaded plays

You bringing up previous debates with the poster suggests that you may be the one with a bias here.

I'm not interested in looking at the entire season because it's hard to judge the team by that. We had a coaching change and played better after that but we also had a ton of injuries - what do we really learn by tearing apart how we played without our two best Dmen just as an example?

We were healthy to start the playoffs and I said it even before the season started - I will judge the team based on what they do in the playoffs. Leaving aside for the moment whether this was in fact a playoff series, it was an elimination series and judging by their play the team defence was good, perhaps even very good. I don't know how it's even possible that we scored as little as we did but yeah, from where I sit our team defence was more than fine.

 

[Duffman955]

I agree we need better defense

But, if this series proved anything, it's that we needed more offense

 

[Cleetus]

I agree we need better defense

But, if this series proved anything, it's that we needed more offense

needed better secondary scoring....

 

[Menzinger]

This is an inaccurate and biased representation. CBJ are NOT an offensive team their bread and butter is defense; they exploited toronto's defensive lapses to a T

There's nothing "biased" about stating facts like 1) the Jackets didn't have a large amount of high danger chances against the Leafs and 2) the Jackets hardly generated a large amount of offense themselves. The Jackets did well to capitalize on the Leafs errors, but every team/system won't be perfect.

The Leafs problem was their offense fell flat, they were shut out twice and especially had difficulty generating any even strength offense.

Edit: arguing the Leafs as a team overall needs to improve their defense is a separate debate from whether or not the Leafs played well defensivly in this 5 game series

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

And what when Muzzin's gone? We have the worst defensive depth ever and it shows because we are eliminated and they aren't.

We gotta look at ourselves in the mirror here and can't just say "oh well with Muzzin in the line up on a full moon with exactly 30 degree weather we are the best team in the league defensively with a 5 v5 expected goal rate." How about we judge the team by WINS!

This is a terrible part of our fan culture that justifies bad performances and teams.

wins aren't a measure of defense. It's fine if you don't know/care about how the defense actually performed and just want to blame them no matter what though

 

[PromisedLand]

You bringing up previous debates with the poster suggests that you may be the one with a bias here.

I'm not interested in looking at the entire season because it's hard to judge the team by that. We had a coaching change and played better after that but we also had a ton of injuries - what do we really learn by tearing apart how we played without our two best Dmen just as an example?

We were healthy to start the playoffs and I said it even before the season started - I will judge the team based on what they do in the playoffs. Leaving aside for the moment whether this was in fact a playoff series, it was an elimination series and judging by their play the team defence was good, perhaps even very good. I don't know how it's even possible that we scored as little as we did but yeah, from where I sit our team defence was more than fine.

If you re-watched the entire series again you would notice a lot of defensive lapses for the Leafs compared to CBJ.

CBJ is a team that forechecks and once they have the lead they are content with clogging the neutral zone and not necessarily push for more goals unless leafs provide opportunities and run out the clock;

based on that CBJ game plan claiming the leafs defense was solid is not really accurate; especially, given the way leafs play in their own end.

 

[Pitaya]

wins aren't a measure of defense. It's fine if you don't know/care about how the defense actually performed and just want to blame them no matter what though

If you think the defense played well then you may be the one not knowing or caring

 

[Shanwhatplan]

The team never fell apart defensively. They gave up 1.68 expected goals against/60 at 5v5 without Muzzin. Only the Flyers and Calgary were better

But let’s not forget that Columbus was in the bottom 5 of offensive teams.

 

[Maplebeasts]

The series loss pretty much falls exclusively on the team's shooting percentage at 5 on 5. They played pretty solidly and could have won if they didn't shoot at less than a quarter of league average. That being said I fully support trading one of Marner/Nylander to add a good defensemen and more skill guys with grit in the forward lineup

 

[Gary Nylund]

If you re-watched the entire series again you would notice a lot of defensive lapses for the Leafs compared to CBJ.

CBJ is a team that forechecks and once they have the lead they are content with clogging the neutral zone and not necessarily push for more goals unless leafs provide opportunities and run out the clock;

based on that CBJ game plan claiming the leafs defense was solid is not really accurate; especially, given the way leafs play in their own end.

I really don't think so. Maybe the fact that they had the lead had something to do with it but in any case, we most definitely did not have a LOT of defensive lapses.

 

[GoLeafsGo96]

I agree we need better defense

But, if this series proved anything, it's that we needed more offense

The biggest problem in the series was that guys like Kapanen and Mikheyev gave them absolutely nothing despite having significant roles playing with good players for large chunks. Kerfoot was alright.

Hyman gave them nothing except for the last 4 minutes game 4.

The D needs to be adjusted and changed because its a longstanding issue. I think Sandin becomes a regular, but they missed on the Barrie deal (I don't think anyone expected him to be virtually useless). If they can flip Kapanen/Johnsson and sign someone like Brodie, I think the D, assuming they don't get decimated with injuries, is actually going to be fine. If there is a larger deal to be made that makes sense, go for it, I just don't see it coming.

I think if they adjust the middle six makeup they are actually going to be alright. You can't run guys like Kapanen who give you nothing on the cycle, and has shown he can't play with the top players on this team if there is an injury or shakeup needed.

 

[Gary Nylund]

The series loss pretty much falls exclusively on the team's shooting percentage at 5 on 5. They played pretty solidly and could have won if they didn't shoot at less than a quarter of league average. That being said I fully support trading one of Marner/Nylander to add a good defensemen and more skill guys with grit in the forward lineup

+1

Only thing I would change is instead of trading one of Marner/Nylander, I'd consider trading both.

 

[PromisedLand]

There's nothing "biased" about stating facts like 1) the Jackets didn't have a large amount of high danger chances against the Leafs and 2) the Jackets hardly generated a large amount of offense themselves. The Jackets did well to capitalize on the Leafs errors, but every team/system won't be perfect.

The Leafs problem was their offense fell flat, they were shut out twice and especially had difficulty generating any even strength offense.

as usual like we have debated many times before you very conveniently leave out CONTEXT

CONTEXT:

• CBJ is not an offensive team
• CBJ is content with dumping the puck and clogging the neutral zone waiting for opposition to make mistakes and then pounce

when you apply context there is nothing "speical" about leafs defense that you keep claiming.

On top of that; leafs play in their own end was disastrous; they kept playing chicken and CBJ happily ran out the clock

AND like before the so called high danger chances you keep talking about

do the high danger chances adjust for shot quality? what if the shot is deflected by a pokecheck; or well defended and blocked because that is CBJ's game plan; is it really "high danger"? The methodology for high danger metrics is as laughable as xGF%

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

But let’s not forget that Columbus was in the bottom 5 of offensive teams.

they generated more offense in the regular season than they did against the Leafs though

 

[Pitaya]

The series loss pretty much falls exclusively on the team's shooting percentage at 5 on 5. They played pretty solidly and could have won if they didn't shoot at less than a quarter of league average. That being said I fully support trading one of Marner/Nylander to add a good defensemen and more skill guys with grit in the forward lineup

Leafs should look into Miles Wood, fastest straight line skater in the league who throws the body and will crash the net and any corner, 6’2” 200

Would only take a draft pick or prospect, or if youre looking to move cap space Johnsson or Kapanen would suffice with Jersey adding a pick

 

[GoLeafsGo96]

The Leafs were better than Columbus and deserved to win the series more likely than not. They ran into a hot goaltending tandem.

They still aren't a Boston/Tampa level team - and they need to get to that level and can't with the roster the way it is constructed.

Both these things can be true.

They don't need to trade Marner or Nylander. They need to adjust the makeup of the middle six and add a legit top four option to the current makeup of the D (with Sandin coming in etc). It doesn't need to be blown up, genuinely.

 

[Papi 4 Hart]

wins aren't a measure of defense. It's fine if you don't know/care about how the defense actually performed and just want to blame them no matter what though

So you think our defense perfromed well? We would be in the first round if we didn't blow a 3-0 lead in a pivotal game.

It's not healthy to just ignore clear problems that we have had ALL YEAR.

Our team isn't built to win tight games. What are playoffs?