The Toronto Maple Leafs have one of the best offenses in hockey, but it could be even better if they got more production from their blue-line.
The Leafs lost against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night in overtime, thanks to a great goal by Darnell Nurse. Although Connor McDavid did most of the work, Nurse still buried, for his 12th goal of the season.
Nurse is having a breakout year and currently has more goals this year, than he’s ever had in a single-season. Having previously only scored double-digit goals once in his career, nobody saw this type of production from him.
Nurse’s season is very similar to Morgan Rielly’s 2018-19 campaign. (When it comes to goals, the overall stats are not really too similar, as Rielly was statistically among the NHL’s best defenseman that year, and this year, Nurse is not). During that year, Rielly had 20 goals and 72 points. He essentially doubled his points and tripled his career goal totals, which brought an expectation to Leafs Nation that this was just the beginning.
Since that season, he’s played 82 total games and has six goals and 52 points. Turns out the 2018-19 campaign was a rare one, as he’s back on pace to what his previous career averages were.
Is it possible that Nurse is having a flash-in-the pan season? More than likely. However, it’s also possible that Nurse will continue to be a scoring threat for the near future.
Speaking of offensive output from the blue-line, the Toronto Maple Leafs defensive core is providing very little goal value right now.
Toronto Maple Leafs Defense Needs to Score More
The Toronto Maple Leafs have scored 116 goals this year, but only eight goals have came by a defenseman, which represents six percent.
Jack Campbell and Freddie Andersen have the same amount of goal totals as two Leafs defenseman this year, and those players have each played more than 30 games this year.
To compare this to previous years, the Leafs defense contributed the following percentage of the goals:
- 2016-17 season: 11 percent
- 2017-18 season: 12 percent
- 2018-19 season: 14 percent
- 2019-20 season: 10 percent
Morgan Rielly currently leads the Leafs with three goals, while Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl both have two and Travis Dermott has one. Meanwhile, Zach Bogosian and T.J. Brodie have zero goals on the season.
Dermott seems to be playing fine as the No. 5 defenseman, but they need more offensive production from him.
You don’t expect a player like Zach Bogosian or Justin Holl to score much, because they’re defense-first players, but you should expect T.J. Brodie to chip in every now and then as well. As the only defenseman on the second-unit’s power-play, he should be able to score a few times a season, instead of the goose-egg, he’s currently putting up.
Although the Leafs defensive group isn’t scoring much, it’s not a cause for concern. Instead, it’s just a part of their roster that they could potentially improve. A little extra offensive output from the defense could be the difference-maker between the Leafs finishing No. 1 or No. 2 in the North Division and securing home-ice advantage.
If the Leafs have an opportunity to add a defenseman at the NHL Trade Deadline, it would be wise for them to find someone with a scoring touch, because that’s clearly something that this roster is lacking right now.