Rank the Leafs D

[Pia8988]

5 games into the season with a revamped defense the Leafs have allowed 19 goals to the following teams:

Ottawa - 3
Columbus - 1
Montreal - 5 + SO Loss
Blues - 3
Tampa Bay - 7

So where do the Leafs rank defensively compared to the rest of the NHL.

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[Filthy Dangles]

32nd

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

No idea. It's early going. Tough schedule. Things will get better.

 

[GoldenKnight]

Excellent timing for a thread on this very topic, OP.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

16th-20th.

Rational people never had it anything other than mid-pack.

 

[Regal]

Defensively or in general? Because GA isn't going to tell the whole story for a team with Rielly and Barrie (Besides the whole small sample size/team defense is more than just defensemen thing)

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Defensively? They’re in the 21-25 range. That’s where they’ve consistently been in terms of the rate of expected goals, shots, chances, etc. that they allow as a team.

Their defense core? Probably in the 16-20 range right now with a chance to jump to the 11-15 range once Dermott returns. Barrie and Rielly are really good at offense.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Not great. Bottom 1/3rd.

Certainly not top 10.

 

[aufheben]

Their group of defenders is probably better than the team's defensive play. I'm sure they'd be a lot better defensively if that was their primary focus. Goals Against is impacted by the one player who doesn't play defense.

 

[CanadienShark]

16-20. They've got some solid pieces, but overall it's not an outstanding group.

 

[Divine]

Leafs are a top 10D in the league. It's easy to make this thread after the goalie struggled.

 

[Chicken Souvlaki]

They have the worst defence in the NHL by a mile

 

[7even]

16th-20th.

Rational people never had it anything other than mid-pack.

Hmmm yes us enlightened folk indeed

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

It's not a secret that the Leafs D is the biggest concern. Us Leafs fans have been well aware of it. At best it's average, AT BEST.

 

[Adele Dazeem]

that bell curve poll is so beautiful

 

[6ix]

Middle of the pack, Sandin has been looking good and getting Dermott back will help.

3 new dmen were added, Ceci, Barrie, Sandin. They will need some time to fully gel.

 

[shelf]

Lightning, Blues, Sharks, Preds, Hurricanes, Flames, Bruins, Stars are all probably better.

But Leafs probaly fall shortly after that. So 11-15 is pretty safe.

 

[Skolman]

Middle of the pack, Sandin has been looking good and getting Dermott back will help.

3 new dmen were added, Ceci, Barrie, Sandin. They will need some time to fully gel.

Weak, they weren't the only team in this position. Actually, there are teams who have 3+. Not to mention they weren't of Barrie'a caliber, plus Sandin is the only rookie D-man.

 

[wintersej]

Having two elite offensive forward pairs (Matthews/Nylander and Tavares/Marner) backed by two pairing featuring elite offensive D (Rielly and Barrie) is a matchup nightmare for other teams. Two high end 4 player attacks. Not many teams can match up against that and will get run out of the building.

But Toronto doesn’t have a pairing you want out there defending against the best teams top talent. And Tampa and Boston has some of the very very best top end talent.

On paper, it’s a upper half of the league group. But I think Dubas has been too clever by half and too tied to modern analytics that value possession and skill and not one on one defending and situational hockey.

What this team needed to actually beat top teams is a partner for Muzzin to form a shutdown pairing, not an offensive d-man that wants offensive deployments. How many offensive deployments are there for Rielly and Barrie to share? Overlapping roles that make it harder to put them in a position to hide their warts.

Edit: I think that Dubas envisions Rielly being able to be like Letang and be a more offensive D but still get tough matchups. It’s just that Ceci isn’t Dumoulin, Rielly isn’t as good of a puck mover and POS as Letang and Matthews and Tavares isn’t Crosby and Malkin.

 

[bert]

Bad thread, leafs have one of the best d cores in the league. Small sample size as a group theyve hardly played together.

 

[MardyBum]

Great offensively, meh defensively like everyone knew they were coming in to this year.

 

[Ivan13]

One of the most brilliant things on this site is this belief that the only thing that impacts the defensive performance of a team is its defensemen. Their defensemen are fine, and as a unit they are certainly in the upper echelon when looking league-wide. Their defensive system and the support they get from their forwards are horrific though.

 

[The S5]

Bottom third.
They lack a shutdown D.
The Leafs can score with any team in the league. I don't understand why they don't play a more defensive game. Or, bring in a couple of stay at home type D to offset the offensive D on the team.

 

[The S5]

One of the most brilliant things on this site is this belief that the only thing that impacts the defensive performance of a team is its defensemen. Their defensemen are fine, and as a unit they are certainly in the upper echelon when looking league-wide. Their defensive system and the support they get from their forwards are horrific though.

I agree that the system they run based on their personnel seems off, but, to be fair, their D are pretty poor at defending.

 

[ijuka]

Defensively, very weak. And losing Gardiner didn't help.