Toronto Maple Leafs: Josh Tessler’s Final Thoughts

This will not be my last time writing about the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Unfortunately, I’ve decided to leave Editor In Leaf.

I’ve had an awesome time at Editor In Leaf. It’s been a great experience. I’ve been able to work with talented writers including James Tanner, Mike Stephens, Hunter Eitel, Wilbert Timmermans, Nick DeSouza, Kyle Cushman, Michael Mazzei, Gord Brown, David Scala, Chris Vassos and many others.

I’ve made many friends from my time at Editor In Leaf and it’s been very hard to say goodbye.

Since I was a child, I’ve been obsessed with sports writing. When I was in elementary school, I decided to create my own newspaper. My classmates and I would spend hours sitting with my mother and we’d type out article after article. From that point forward, I knew that I would eventually write about sports.

While sports blogging isn’t my full-time job, it’s something that I love doing. I love looking at specific players and analyzing them. My favourite posts are typically focusing on players who you normally wouldn’t consider a difference maker, but they are. They might not win the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy or have an 80 point season, but that doesn’t mean that they are vital to their team’s success.

For instance, two of my favourite Toronto Maple Leafs are Zach Hyman and Travis Dermott.

Even though Hyman isn’t an elite offensive scorer, he’s always fun to watch. With the game of hockey evolving from a physical game to a speed game, Hyman has been an asset for the Toronto Maple Leafs. His ability to carry the puck from the defensive zone to the offensive zone with speed has been extremely helpful to his line-mates, John Tavares and Mitch Marner. Plus, he’s extremely helpful in goal creation.

At this point in the season, Hyman owns a Total Assists/60 rate of 1.42.

With Dermott, the Toronto Maple Leafs have an extremely talented 21-year-old left-handed two-way defenseman. Dermott isn’t going to win a Norris Trophy, but that doesn’t mean that you should throw him under the bus. You don’t need to put an 80 point season year after year to be good NHLer.

Instead, Dermott gives you the ability to keep possession of the puck and his performance helps lead to scoring chances. Similarly to Hyman, Dermott is an outstanding puck mover.

On Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, I recall Ron Hainsey was behind Frederik Andersen and Hainsey decided to flip the puck to Dermott, as he felt that Dermott could carry the puck from zone-to-zone unharmed.

I know its weird for me to say, but every-time that Dermott skates with the puck up the ice, I get the chills. He’s just such a great puck-moving defenseman that any team in the NHL would be lucky to have someone like him.

While this is my farewell post for Editor in Leaf, I will still be blogging. I hope you all will join me for what comes in the future.

Stats from hockey-reference.com, naturalstattrick.com