Balance Killing the Toronto Maple Leafs
By James Tanner
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a balanced attack.
The Toronto Maple Leafs ice-time leader fluctuates from game to game. The team has a clear-cut best forward and best defenseman, but they don’t seem to ice their lineup to reflect that. The team’s terrible post-October play shows pretty conclusively that this doesn’t work.
Sure, Auston Matthews gets the most ice time per game (F) at 18:37 per, but he doesn’t play as much as other top centres, because the Leafs balance their lines more than other teams do.
The Leafs have four defenseman, Zaitsev, Gardiner, Rielly and Hainsey, who each play about 22 minutes per game. Some quick math shows that still leaves 16 minutes for the bottom pairing, which is a lot.
Mitch Marner and JVR play on the third line. Zach Hyman on the first. Leo Komarov occasionally leads the team in ice time.
I believe that the Leafs would be a better team if they worried less about balance and more about playing the most talented players the most.
New Lines Needed
The first thing they need to do is get Matthews, Nylander, Marner and van Riemsdyk up near 20 minutes per game. Those are by far (it’s not even close) their four best forwards and, if like 100% of other coaches, Babcock played his best players the most, we’d see better results.
Roman Polak plays more per game than William Nylander. Ron Hainsey plays more than Auston Matthews. Just let that sink in for a second.
In terms of ice-time per game, Matthews is 5th, Nylander 11th, Marner 13th and JVR 16th. What in the Hell?
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The Leafs are giving away a lot of points simply because they consistently ice lineups that make no sense. Anyone besides Mike Babcock would have been run out of town by now for doing half the bizarre things he’s done.
What to Do
First thing the Leafs need to do is load ’em up. No more of this Zach Hyman/ Leo Komarov crap. Stop trying to re-invent the wheel, and just play your best players together.
JVR-Matthews-Nylander – BOOM! One of the best lines in hockey is suddenly on your team. Who’s going to contain that? You think these guys can’t get a loose puck without a grinder around? Give me a break.
Next up, Kadri centering Leivo and Marner. On the third line Bozak can centre Marleau and Kapanen.
Komarov centering Brown and Hyman is probably the best fourth line in hockey, and it solves the problem having all your good players sitting on the bench for too much time. The upside is that Martin, Moore and Gauthier no longer have to waste everyone’s time by being terrible.
On the blue line, it’s even easier. Just pair Rielly with Gardiner and play them close to thirty minutes per game.
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The new look Toronto Maple Leafs would crush the competition. It’s not rocket science – 98% of the teams for the entire history of hockey have played their best players the most. It’s a basic concept. Time for the Leafs to recognize that.