Toronto Maple Leafs: Breaking Down the 2023-24 Blue-Line

Mark Giordano

Although Mark Giordano is one of the oldest players in the NHL, his statistics have been excellent while he has been with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He may no longer be the 74 point Norris Winner he used to be, but Giordano is an incredibly intelligent player who has been able to compensate his physical decline with his sharp mind.

Like Liljegren, his numbers too a step back last year – from an elite 3rd pairing to a merely excellent one.

After being over 60% in both expected goals and results in his first year with the Leafs (which was only a 20 game sample) in his second year he posted 59% GF and 55% XGoals.

He scored 1.04 P/60 and Rielly scored 1.05.

So basically, for a 3rd pairing player, Giordano has been outstanding with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The only problem?

He is 40 years old before the season starts, and last year in the playoffs he fell off of a cliff.

The Leafs got absolutely dusted in the playoffs whenever Giordano was on the ice.  He played all 11 games and showed why it’s so problematic to have living legends on your roster.

The Leafs kept playing Giordano every night even though he couldn’t cut it. It was embarrassing, and he probably should have retired, but obviously he’s a legend for a reason and probably doesn’t want to go out like that.

Still – when he was on the ice last spring, Tampa and Florida feasted. He 46% of the shot-attempts. 45% of the shots, 27% of the goals and an XGoals rating of 43%.

One reason to be very pessimistic about the Toronto Maple Leafs blue-line is that Mark Giordano is still on it.