Toronto Maple Leafs: Multiple 40 Point Defensemen
Toronto Maple Leafs have arguably the best forward core in the entire league. The team can forwards can flat out score, but what about the defenseman?
The Toronto Maple Leafs have an interesting defensive core to say the least. There are three sure-fire locks to be in the top four: Jake Gardiner, Morgan Rielly, and Nikita Zaitsev.
After that, they have Ron Hainsey, who is automatically slotted as a top four because of the lack of depth. Then, the bottom pairing is up in the air and could be comprised include any two of: Connor Carrick, Calle Rosen, Andreas Borgman, Travis Dermott, Martin Marincin and maybe even Timothy Liljegren (although I wouldn’t bet on it). But not all of these defensemen are going to put up points even with the forwards they get to play with.
40 Point Defensemen
Reaching 40 points as a defensemen in today’s NHL is an impressive feat to say the least. Last season only 23 defensemen reached this milestone (although 8 others were only a point short at 39). Of the 23, only one team had multiple defensemen accomplish this feat, the Columbus Blue Jackets with Seth Jones and rookie phenom Zach Werenski. The Leafs also had their own defenseman, Jake Gardiner, reach 40 this past season as well.
But now the question is; can the Leafs have more than one 40 point defenseman? Looking at this roster, there’s certainly a good chance that this season may give Toronto two or three elite scoring defenseman.
Lets take a look!
Ron Hainsey
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Ron Hainsey this summer to a three-year contract. Right off the bat, we can eliminate Hainsey from the 40 point defenseman conversation. It’s just not going to happen.
Ron Hainsey has never eclipsed 40 points in his 15 year career as an NHL defenseman. He’s definitely flirted with the milestone, coming close with 39 points back in 09-10 season, but that would be as close as he ever gets. Since 2010, Hainsey has not reached 20 points in a single season but did score 19 points on two separate occasions.
The Leafs acquired him for his two-way game. He’s not a great offensive or defensive defenseman, but he’s pretty solid with both roles.
This, by the way, is not a slight on Ron Hainsey in any way. He was not brought to Toronto to score goals or rack up the assists, it’s simply not his role. At age 36, Hainsey is well out of his prime and just doesn’t have the extra gear needed to put up heavy offensive numbers.
That said, he’s a quality puck mover and a smart player. He might not be the player he once was, but the Leafs wouldn’t have signed him if he was terrible. He really helped the Penguins last year on the PK and could take over for Roman Polak in that role this year with the Leafs.
It looks like he’ll get a chance to play top-four minutes, most likely alongside Morgan Rielly. This could be very beneficial for the 23 year old budding star. Or it could be another in the long line of disappointing partners the Leafs have saddled Rielly with so far in his career. It’s too early to tell!
Morgan Rielly
Drafted fifth overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Morgan Rielly is one of the Leafs prized possessions. Of all the defenseman the Leafs have, Morgan Rielly is probably the biggest wild card right now. Usually, after a defenseman plays four full seasons in the NHL, the community has a good idea about what that player’s ceiling is.
Usually. With Rielly, it’s hard to tell. Will he ever be a 50 point superstar? Or is his ceiling more of a well-rounded puck mover who plays tough minutes and puts up OK point totals?
After playing four seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, veteran status on this team full of kids, Rielly will still only be 23 years old for most of the 2017-2018 season. He still hasn’t entered his his prime, or is just starting to.
In 312 games played, Rielly has scored 112 points, good for a 0.36 PPG average. That’s a pretty good number for a 23 year old NHL defenseman. There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding Morgan, he hasn’t put up the totals Leaf fans expected when he was drafted in 2012, but at the same time he’s so young that he still has room to develop.
If you look at last season, what is interesting is that he didn’t get very much power-play time. Instead of the two + minutes he was previously getting, last year he got half that. Nearly all of his scoring came 5v5, which suggests that if he got on the PP he’d have no problem approaching 40 points. Also consider that he barely got any secondary assists, which is unusual for someone with his icetime. That too should correct itself and lead to more points in the future.
When delving deeper into this subject, it’s a little less worrisome when you compare Morgan Rielly’s career thus far to some today’s elite defensemen. Here’s a small sample:
Kris Letang – After his first three full NHL season, Letang was only scoring at a 0.28 PPG pace and never came close to 40 points.
Brent Burns – In his first six NHL seasons, Burns only eclipsed 40 points once with his second best season being 27 points. (Although he may have reached 40 if he wasnt hurt for one or two of those seasons).
Victor Hedman – After his first four NHL stints, Hedman scored at an eerily similar pace as Rielly with a 0.35PPG pace.
There are obvious exceptions to this theory (Erik Karlsson), but defensemen who enter the NHL at a young age usually take 4-5 seasons to reach the upper echelon of the league.
Now this isn’t saying Morgan Rielly will be as good as the other defensemen mentioned above, but his progression to this stage of his career looks promising.
Last year his point totals took a massive hit, but coach Mike Babcock wanted Rielly to learn the defensive aspect of being an NHL defenseman. Rielly only logged 0:58 minutes of powerplay time last year, which was good for third on the Leafs blueline. Gardiner, 2:38 and Zaisev, 2:00 both had a lot more opportunities to pad their personal stats with the man advantage.
The playoffs was a completely different story. Rielly averaged well over two minutes per game on the man advantage and finished T-1 with Matthews for team lead in points. Give the kid some space on the ice and he will flourish.
If Babcock decides to give Morgan the powerplay time he deserves, Rielly will easily surpass 40 points this season. Maybe even reach 50.
Nikita Zaitsev
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nikita Zaitsev from the KHL and no one knew what to expect. The undrafted defenseman was a revelation in his first North American season, and the Leafs promptly signed him to a seven years deal.
Zaitsev had a great rookie season in the NHL in terms of offensive output, scoring 36 points in a full 82 game season. The big difference between Rielly and Zaitsev is the age gap, and the fact that Zaitsev got much more power play time and doesn’t have Rielly’s defensive abilities.
Rielly has room to grow because he’s only 23, but Zaitsev on the other hand will be 26 for most of the 2017-2018 season. There isn’t much room for him to get better. What we saw this season is what we’re getting for the next seven. Obviously, coming over from the KHL, Zaitsev had to get accustomed to NA ice which may have hindered his impact on both ends of the ice.
During his second season, Zaitsev will naturally make some progression forward but nothing massive. With the same PP time as last season, Zaitsev also has a shot at reach 40 points for the Leafs, or maybe, if he really racks up those secondary assists, he could hit 50. He’s a great puck mover and a fun player to watch, if he can be even just a tiny fraction of a bit better in his own end the Leafs are going to have a great player on their hands.
Jake Gardiner
Underappreciated. Underrated. Harshly criticized. All statements that fit the bill for Jake Gardiner. No matter what he does, the unfair narrative that he can’t play defense never seems to disappear. Ironic too, since his biggest impact, despite putting up 40 points, is defensive. Gardiner makes the puck go the other way, and tilts the ice in the direction of the opponent’s net. When he is on the ice, the Leafs get more shots than they allow, bottom line.
Last season was his 5th full season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and by far his best. Gardiner was one of only 23 defensemen that reached 40 points last year with 43. In every aspect of the game, he was, and continues to be the Leafs best defenseman . At the age of 27, Gardiner should not show any signs of regression and could easily pass 40 points again. If he does, he will rightly take his place among the games elite.
I mean, he’s not going to make the top ten, or probably even top fifteen, but he’s a seriously god hockey player who doesn’t get close to the respect he deserves. People like to credit Mike Babcock for his improvement, but that’s not really fair, because Gardiner has been the best Leafs defenseman since at least the Randy Carlyle days, though Carlyle probably didn’t know it.
The Leafs usually run with a 4-1 powerplay and next season should be no different. One of the two PP QB spots is automatically given to Gardiner. His incredible vision on the ice and sneaky wrister compliments the young PP core.
Barring an injury, Gardiner will most definitely pass 40 points next season.