Toronto Maple Leafs Have to Trade or Bench Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Jake Muzzin from the Los Angeles Kings two weeks ago.

In seven games, the Toronto Maple Leafs newest blueliner has put up a solid 53% possession rating, despite not yet finding a permanent home in the lineup.

Initially it was thought that Muzzin would go on the right side with Rielly on the left, making up what should be (despite both being lefties) one of the best pairings in the NHL.

Immediately, however, Muzzin was put on the left, ostensibly so he wouldn’t have to learn a new system and a new position at the same time.  Rielly went on the right, but Babcock never seemed comfortable, often giving Rielly time with Hainsey.

After six games, unbelievably, Muzzin was the least used 5v5 defenseman on the team, which is a severely bad display of coaching.  There is just no excuse for that.

Then, after the first period in Tuesday’s game, Babcock put his old first pairing back together.  These were the lines in practice today:

What Is Babcock Thinking?

The obvious move would be to look at the numbers and conclude that Ron Hainsey is the worst player on the Leafs, and take him out of the lineup. Along with Nikita Zaitsev who is also awful.

Hainsey is slow, he has no mobility, he is beat off the rush routinely and often looks like he has no idea what to do with the  puck.  He is bad at clearing the zone, and he does not specialize in the kind of short breakout passes the Leafs should be using.

He is by far the worst top pairing defender in hockey, and no other elite defender has as bad a partner as Rielly does.  He and Rielly do not break even, and are rated 48.5% together.  Rielly’s possession numbers go up with anyone else, while Hainsey without Rielly sinks like a stone.

With the Leafs essentially locked into second place, they have some time to experiment or let things ride out if they want to, but they apparently don’t. If they suspected that either Rielly or Muzzin could best be utilized on their off-side, I think they’d keep them together.

The only conclusion I can thus draw is that the Leafs will trade for a partner for Rielly in the coming weeks.  They are delusional if they think Ron Hainsey should play on the top pairing.

But who knows? The Leafs have two players in the top four that are so bad that they neutralize the other two players they play with.  Both Gardiner and Rielly are under 50% with their normal partners, while significantly over 50% with anyone else.

That is irrefutable evidence that they are sabotaging themselves.

Conclusion

As for the other lines, I said when the trade first happened that Travis Dermott and Jake Gardiner should play together, if they were intent on sitting Igor Ozhiganov, which they shouldn’t have done.  Oz and Dermott combined to be among the best third pairings in the NHL, possession the puck at a spectacular 55%.  There was and is no reason to mess with that.

That said, Dermott and Gardiner, in about 80 minutes, are over 60% so they are doing great.  Babcock should stick with this.

That’s one good pairing.  But, as good as Rielly and Muzzin are, if they aren’t playing together, then Dermott and Gardiner should be the first pairing, since that’s the only pairing without any bad players on it.

The  sad reality is that with Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev taking up a third of the Toronto Maple Leafs blue line, they’re going nowhere.

Hainsey and Zaitsev must be traded, benched or demoted.  They can’t be on the Leafs blue line when the Playoffs role around.

stats from naturalstattrick.com