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Who Should the Toronto Maple Leafs Pursue in Free Agency: Roundtable

By Wilbert Timmermans

TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 3: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs steps onto the ice before the first period of the home opener against the Montreal Canadiens at the Scotiabank Arena on October 3, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 3: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs steps onto the ice before the first period of the home opener against the Montreal Canadiens at the Scotiabank Arena on October 3, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Jordan Maresky

One free-agent Kyle Dubas should instantly target whenever the 2020 offseason begins is TJ Brodie.

Watching him play, his puck-moving skills are fantastic. He has a tremendous first pass and the proficient skating skills to jump up in the rush on a breakout.

With the high-powered offence Toronto has, it is important to have skilled players on the backend that complement the big-name forwards – something Brodie does strongly.

He ranks in the 97th percentile and the 91st percentile in secondary assist and estimated shot assists rates respectively (stats from mapleleafshotstove). Although Brodie has above-average offensive skills, his best work is in the defensive end.

Back in January of 2019, Sportsnet released an article trying to identify the league’s best defensive defensemen. TJ Brodie was named in the top 10, with the authors citing his monstrous ability to “remove the puck from his opponents”.

Furthermore, Brodie’s play driving is excellent. Specifically, his expected goals against suppression, ranking in 89th percentile league-wide (stats from mapleleafshotstove). TJ Brodie is exactly what the Toronto Maple Leafs need – a skilled top four defensemen, who can play against the opposing teams’ best players.

Brodie ranks in the 85th percentile in heavy ice time facing elite forwards (stat from mapleleafshotstove), and logs a ton of minutes in the defensive end – for his career, Brodie has started 52% of his faceoffs in the defensive end (stat from hockey-reference).

For what it is worth, Toronto’s best defensive defensemen, Jake Muzzin, has started 52% of his faceoffs in the defensive end in his career with Toronto (stat from hockey-reference).

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