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Toronto Maple Leafs Need Serious Defensive Help To Win Stanley Cup

By Stephen Nixon

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 09: Columbus Blue Jackets shake hands with the Toronto Maple Leafs after winning 3-0 in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 09, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 09: Columbus Blue Jackets shake hands with the Toronto Maple Leafs after winning 3-0 in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 09, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images) /
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Over the past four seasons, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been among the NHL’s best in goals for.

Within that time-frame, the Toronto Maple Leafs have not won a playoff series.  Coincidence? I think so.

Year-over-year, the Leafs provide highlight goals and players like Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner and John Tavares shine offensively.

As a fan, it’s the most entertaining product. At any given moment, no matter the deficit, your team has a chance at winning.

However, this may not be a sustainable winning philosophy.

Toronto Maple Leafs Have Serious Issues To Fix

To make the playoffs in the NHL, all you have to do is be one of the top-eight teams in your conference.

In an 82 game regular season span, the best eight teams should make the playoffs, but you can also outscore your way to a post-season berth throughout that process. Just because you score more goals than the other team doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the best team and are going to have a lot of success.

The top-eight teams in Goals For during the 2018-19 season all made the playoffs, but only one team won a playoff series. That’s not by accident.

As mentioned previously, the Leafs are a very fun team to watch and seeing talents like Tavares, Matthews, Nylander and Marner every other night is a blessing.

However, wouldn’t you sacrifice talent over winning?

I’m sure New Jersey Devils fans hated watching ‘the trap’ every night, but winning the Stanley Cup trumps a boring style of hockey.

If you look back at the last 10 Stanley Cup champions, plenty of those teams have been great offensively, but they’ve balanced it out with defense as well.

  • 2018-19 Season:
    • Stanley Cup Champion: St. Louis Blues
    • Goals For (GF): 15th
    • Goals Against (GA): 6th
  • 2017-18 Season:
    • Stanley Cup Champion: Washington Capitals
    • GF: 9th
    • GA: 15th
  • 2016-17 Season:
    • Stanley Cup Champion: Pittsburgh Penguins
    • GF: 1st
    • GA: 14th
  • 2015-16 Season:
    • Stanley Cup Champion: Pittsburgh Penguins
    • GF: 3rd
    • GA: 6th
  • 2014-15 Season:
    • Stanley Cup Champion: Chicago Blackhawks
    • GF: 15th
    • GA:1st
  • 2013-14 Season: 
    • Stanley Cup Champion: LA Kings
    • GF: 24th
    • GA: 1st
  • 2012-13 Season:
    • Stanley Cup Champion: Chicago Blackhawks
    • GF: 2nd
    • GA: 1st
  • 2011-12 Season:
    • Stanley Cup Champion: LA Kings
    • GF: 29th
    • GA: 2nd
  • 2010-11 Season:
    • Stanley Cup Champion: Boston Bruins
    • GF: 8th
    • GA: 3rd
  • 2009-10 Season:
    • Stanley Cup Champion: Chicago Blackhawks
    • GF: 3rd
    • GA: 5th

The average rank for a team winning the Stanley Cup is 10th in GF and 5th in GA.

If you take that average and compare it a few current Cup contenders this season, the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche fit that mold perfectly.

I’d recommend going online and betting those teams to win the Cup, now.

Over the past four campaigns, the Leafs have finished the following in GF and GA:

  • 2019-20 Season:
    • GF: 3rd
    • GA: 27th
    • Record: 36-25-9 (81 points)
  • 2018-19 Season:
    • GF: 4th
    • GA: 18th
    • Record: 46-28-8 (100 points)
  • 2017-18 Season:
    • GF: 2nd
    • GA: 11th
    • Record: 49-26-7 (105 points)
  • 2016-17 Season:
    • GF: 5th
    • GA: 22nd
    • Record: 40-27-11 (95 points)

Unsurprisingly, the Toronto Maple Leafs best season came when they were better defensively.

Not only that, but the 2017-18 season was the Leafs best team points total in franchise history.

It may sound simple, but the old sports cliche is right: Defense wins championships.

The team needs to tighten their defense or they’ll never win a Cup.

I know it’s a fun product to watch and losing young talented offensive weapons may be tough to grasp, but it’s the reality.

I’d much rather take a no-name defenseman who will stop pucks from going in the net than a flashy forward at this point. Then again, they just lost a playoff series where they had a .936 save percentage.

Next. 3 Reasons The Leafs Don't Need Their 1st Round Pick. dark

We’ve waited far too long for a championship and I’ll take boring over exciting any day of the week. Winning will provide enough happiness for a lifetime that nobody will remember how many goals they scored.

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