2 x Elite Defenders Emerge from the Ashes of the Toronto Maple Leafs Blue-Line

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had some injury woes on their blue-line this season.

Four of the Toronto Maple Leafs top five defensemen have missed significant time this year (Rielly, Muzzin, Brodie and Liljegren) while a fifth – Rasmus Sandin – missed most of training camp over a contract dispute.

That hasn’t seemed to matter, as the Leafs have pretty much played well regardless of who is in the lineup on any given night.

And since that is the case, I thought it might be interesting to look into the numbers a little bit.

Toronto Maple Leafs 2022 Blue-Line

So far this year, the Leafs have used 12 defenseman.

In order of total ice time: Justin Holl (6 hours 42 minutes) , Mark Giordano, Rasmus Sandin, Morgan Rielly, TJ Brodie, Timothy Liljegren, Victor Mete, Jordie Benn, Mac Hollowell, Jake Muzzin, Connor Timmins and Fillip Kral (19 minutes 55 seconds).

TJ Brodie, with 11 goals for while he is on the ice vs 12 against, is the only one of them who is underwater 5v5. (naturalstattrick.com).

11 of 12 Toronto Maple Leafs are winning their minutes.

And don’t blame Brodie either, his 55 % expected-goals rating is excellent, and he’s just been unlucky.

The worst defenseman on the Leafs, by expected-goals, are Muzzin, Mete, and Hollowell who are the only three under 50%.  In other words, they are the only three players on the Leafs blue-line who have made the team worse so far this year, and all three have played so few minutes you can’t even really judge them on these numbers.

The best defenseman, by expected goals, is Rasmus Sandin, whose 56% expected goals rating is very, very good.

111 NHL defenders have played 300+ minutes, and Sandin has the 13th best expected goals rating in the NHL, while Giordano has the 14th. (Check that sweet chart and from @jfresh).

Since Rielly went down, Rasmus Sandin has put up a 60% expected goals rating, while quarter-backing the NHL’s best (or close enough) power-play.  He has five points in his last nine games.

You might not have noticed this, but Sandin has become one of the NHL’s best defenseman.

He was in the 90th percentile last season.  This year, with tougher minutes, same thing.

And Timothy Liljegren is even better.

As well as Giordano and Holl have been – and they’ve been great – Timothy Liljegren is playing the second-most at 5v5 since Rielly went down, and in his last few games you can tell that he’s finally getting back into mid-season form (he  missed the first 11 games).

Mark Giordano is remarkable. He is providing Norris-level defense on a league-minimum salary and is probably the most valuable dollar-for-dollar player in the NHL that isn’t on an entry-level deal.

Justin Holl deserves an apology from me, and everyone else in Leafs Nation.

But Liljegren and Sandin are the Leafs two best defenseman.

Even with Brodie back.

Even when Rielly comes back.

The Toronto Maple Leafs probably should have signed Sandin for a much longer contract.

On a healthy blue-line,  Sandin and Liljegren are the Leafs best two defenseman.  News Flash for those who don’t already know: they are also two of the best defenseman in the NHL.