Toronto Maple Leafs: What’s Being Done Right?

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ season is now ten games old and not a lot has been going their way. Coming off their 4-0 loss at home to the Penguins yesterday, they’re sitting on a record of 7 losses and only 1 win. Not a lot is going right.

On the flip of this, a season of pain had long been promised. Expectation is just part of being a member of Leafs Nation though, and I don’t think anyone ever wants to be expecting a losing streak.

Looking beyond final scores, there are some things being done right by the Maple Leafs. Babcock and company are clearly getting certain messages through, even if the end result isn’t better numbers in the ‘W’ column:

Shorthanded Face-Offs

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Your league leaders, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs’ 44 short-handed face-off wins sees them seated atop the ladder. Nick Spaling and Byron Froese have proven to be quite the able hands here, both with solid 60+ percentages.

Unfortunately, this is a statistic that doesn’t truly represent their penalty kill performance. They’ve been scored on 10 times on the penalty kill thus far; an average of 1 every game this season. Likewise, their penalty kill percentage is a meagre 73.7% – only Buffalo and Columbus gave worse percentages.

If, however, the Maple Leafs can turn these face-off wins shorthanded into something the penalty kill unit can build on, fantastic. Killing penalties is going to be vital given the lack of goals from the team this year.

Giveaways

The Toronto Maple Leafs sit dead last in the number of giveaways; having only allowed 56 this year. By comparison the Dallas Stars, at the top of the ladder, have given up the puck 135 times.

Not giving up the puck easily is a great thing on its own. Couple it with creating opportunities out of the puck possession and we’re onto something.

This statistic represents the fact that Mike Babcock has been getting much better performances out of his four key blue-liners; Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, Matt Hunwick and Dion Phaneuf. Likewise, the offensive lines are showing much greater self-awareness and selflessness with their fore-checking (ignore this for the Penguins game; it wasn’t the same intensity we’ve seen in other losing efforts).

Not giving away easy possession will continue to be vital, especially given the offensive production continues to be poor.

Shot Attempts Against

Only the Capitals, Kings and Devils have given up less shot attempts against, than the Toronto Maple Leaf’s 346. Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, none of these teams concede anywhere near as many on these shot attempts.

Whilst not allowing too many shots on goal is clearly a good thing, the fact they’re sitting third on the ladder for goals against per game says a lot. Blame it on Jonathan Bernier, blame it on James Reimer, blame it on the other’s team’s having much stronger offense.

Honestly, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the blame should lie. Obviously, deciding a first choice and sticking with him come hell or high water would definitely help one of the goaltenders’ confidence.

Fact is though that you can not allow those shots on net, but if those you do allow end up in the back of the net, the Leafs will lose.

Next: Maple Leafs Rumor Round-Up

All statistics taken from NHL.com.

Are you able to draw any positives for the Maple Leafs so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.