3 Takeaways from the Toronto Maple Leafs First 5 Games
We are over one week into the Toronto Maple Leafs 2021 season and there are some good takeaways from the team through five games so far.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are now over a week into the regular season after playing their first five games of 2021 and they have looked mostly good thus far through five contests.
Out of the other six Canadian teams in the division, we have seen the Maple Leafs face off against four of the six clubs: the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, and Edmonton Oilers.
Through five games the Maple Leafs have looked like an improved team from last year, although given some flashbacks of typical Toronto Maple Leafs hockey that we are so accustomed to seeing, they have had flashes of brilliance and have looked good overall.
3. Special Teams
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been known for their deadly power-play units over the last couple of seasons and they are reminding everyone this season that they haven’t fallen off. With a strong power-play unit comes the hope of having just a strong penalty kill as well, and so far that’s what the Leafs have.
Through five games this season the Leafs power-play is scoring at 38% and their penalty kill is succeeding at a rate of 80.0%. Although it is only five games and it is a super small sample size, it’s all good so far.
For the power-play, we see a different look to it this year compared to years prior, in the sense that both units are split up evenly instead of loading up the first unit and letting the big boys ride out the power-play for the majority of the man advantage. The first unit sees Matthews-Marner-Thornton-Simmonds-Rielly on it, and the second unit sees Tavares-Nylander-Hyman-Spezza-Brodie or Lehtonen depending if Lehtonen is on the lineup or not.
Their penalty kill on the other hand may be in the middle of the pack, but starting the season at 80.0% is still good. The main penalty killers for the team are Marner, Hyman, Mikheyv, Kerfoot for the forwards, and Keefe also throwing Matthews out there from time to time.
For the defense, you have Muzzin, Holl, Brodie, and Bogosian as well, and they all bring defensive awareness and or physicality to the penalty kill. (Stats from NHL.com)
2. Stars Playing Like Stars
The Leafs top players have all started out strong, as expected.
Mitch Marner is tied for the team lead with six points in five games, a stat line of three goals, and three assists. John Tavares right there tied with him with three goals and three assists for six points as well. Auston Matthews finally potting home his second of the season going along with three assists for a total of five points in five games, and lastly, William Nylander who is also tied with Matthews for total points with five, as he also has two goals and three assists.
All four stars on the team have been playing hockey this season with urgency to succeed this season and help lead their team further this year than prior seasons. We have seen Sheldon Keefe ride Marner and Matthews through five games as they both rank top in the league on total time on ice, topping north of 23 minutes a night.
Along with the four big guns on the Maple Leafs, they are also getting a lot of contribution from their depth guys as well. They may not be showing up on the score sheet all the time like these four guys but their on-ice performance is something to watch. Guys like Alex Kerfoot, Zach Hyman, and Ilya Mikheyev are absolutely flying out there every night and it really helps give this Toronto Maple Leafs team a jump in their lineup when they need help from their bottom six.
1. Better Defensively
Something that has always been a major thorn in the Toronto Maple Leafs game is defense and how inconsistent it has been for years now. This off-season Kyle Dubas and staff went out and paid money for someone who will definitely help out the top four when they brought in TJ Brodie.
Brodie, who has been paired up with Morgan Rielly, immediately upgrades the team’s defense and also helps elevate Rielly’s game and gives us hope that he can maybe get back to his 2018-19 self where he was an offensive beast putting up 20 goals and 72 points in 82 games.
Other than the signing of Brodie we saw the Leafs go out and sign Stanley Cup champion and noted physical guy Zach Bogosian, as well as signing the KHL Defensemen of the Year, back in May of 2020 in Mikko Lehtonen. These three notable additions on the defense all bring something different and can all benefit the Maple Leafs going forward this 2021 season.
Brodie who by far out of all three new additions to the team brings the best defensive awareness and can not only help out the team’s overall defense, but he helps out Rielly’s gameplay as well. Bogosian who is more on the tough side of things when it comes to the backend brings physicality and the urge to hit and fight people when necessary.
He may not be up to Brodie’s level when it comes to playing defense but he isn’t all that bad either. His first game was rough, and he hasn’t been putting up great on-ice stats, but he is bringing a different look to the team that they are otherwise missing, so that alone is helpful.
Lastly, Lehtonen, Mikko who was brought from overseas brings an element that is always welcomed on every hockey team, and it’s the ability to move with the puck. He brings his puck-moving ability to the team and can also play a relatively fair two-way game but obviously isn’t going to be looked upon to log heavy minutes on the backend anyway. He can quarterback the second power-play unit and see some offensive zone starts which will all help his game as he transitions into the NHL from the KHL.
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Through five games, the Leafs probably deserve to have a better record than they do, but it’s been a generally strong start to the season.