One Statistic Speaks Volumes About Toronto Maple Leafs Coaching

A recent statistical assumption ahead of next season has highlighted just how dangerous the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the penalty-kill.

The statistic in question was derived by JFresh and predicts shorthanded goals per 60 minutes, with a notable number of current and former Toronto Maple Leafs high in the list.

Now of course, this statistic is based around a lot of assumptions on a player’s shorthanded scoring this season just gone. However this in itself highlights how impressive the Leafs were.

The Leafs deployed a penalty-kill that frequently turned defense into offense with 4 players tallying 2 or more shorthanded goals. No other team had more than 3 players on that list.

Toronto Maple Leafs Have Lost Plenty Of Firepower

It only takes looking through the rankings for the season ahead to realise that the Toronto Maple Leafs have lost considerable firepower when down a man, but hopefully their coaching can build a new group.

Topping the list is Ilya Mikheyev, expected to score 1.06 shorthanded goals per 60 minutes. Whether he is able to do that in Vancouver of course remains to be seen.

Third on the list is Ondrej Kase, now of the Carolina Hurricanes, and projected at 1.00 goals per 60 shorthanded minutes.

Just below another former Leaf in Trevor Moore is late season addition to the penalty kill Colin Blackwell in sixth, who’ll be lining up for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Finally onto a player that remains with the Toronto Maple Leafs with Pierre Engvall listed in seventh with a projected goal rate of 0.86 per 60 minutes.

The sheer fact that the top ten features four players that wore a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey last season speaks to a group that was coached incredibly effectively to capitalise on any powerplay mishap of their opposition.

Reading further into the list and noting players such as Trevor Moore and later on the list Connor Brown at seventeenth speaks to those players taking away Leafs coached skills or a specific preference when it comes to recruitment for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Rounding out the penalty killers making the cut is Mitch Marner in 18th, projecting 0.77 goals per 60; a rate that still ranks him ahead of talents such as Jonathan Huberdeau and Alex Barkov.

It’s going to prove a real challenge for the team to find so many players on such a list next season as there will be a considerably different looking penalty-kill come opening night, with summer signings such as Calle Jarnkrok and Nicolas Aube-Kubel likely expected to step up.

In fact, perhaps it’s time to unleash Auston Matthews when running short-handed. He certainly wouldn’t be the only elite center that is expected to fulfil such duties.

Whether it’s down to impressive coaching or otherwise, the so-called ‘pressure kill’ was often fun to watch and hopefully will continue to be so despite the changes this coming season.

Add in hungry new recruits, both from free agency and internally developed with the Toronto Marlies and it’s impressive record is ripe to continue.