The Toronto Maple Leafs have obviously not had the most fantastic first couple months of their season as they find themselves near the bottom of the league standings, but one defenseman has admitted that his play hasn't helped them prevent this slump.
Simon Benoit was planned to be the physical and rugged defenseman on the Leafs' bottom pairing that would bring some amount of bite to the ice. It's what he did all last season as the team went on to win the Atlantic Division and be the biggest competition for the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in the playoffs.
This season it's been completely different. Benoit's game was never about the numbers, since he did manage to earn just two points through 78 games last season, but so far this season having just two assists and earning a minus-2 rating while averaging almost 18 minutes a night -- it's just not good enough. Thankfully, the 27-year-old blueliner knows as much.
Simon Benoit admits to really poor performance this season
"I have to be better. I've been too passive. I don't have the knife in my teeth right now," Benoit said via The Hockey News' David Alter.
With a few injuries to the back end of the Leafs like Chris Tanev's continued absence, Benoit's role has increased on the team and he's needed to be leaned on more than he's used to. And with that unfortunately has come with some underperformance from the rugged tough guy on the blue line.
Benoit's job has been to lay the body in an effective way and while he does lead Leafs defensemen in hits with 49 (the next best is Oliver Ekman-Larsson with just 34 to his name) the opposing team essentially has a direct chance at a scoring opportunity whenever he's on the ice. At 5-on-5, Benoit is dead last among Leafs defensemen when it comes to on-ice shot attempt share, second-last in shot on goal share, and only Philippe Myers and Dakota Mermis have been outscored more than the 27-year-old.
While it's not exactly uncommon for a Toronto defenseman to be bad this season, Benoit is on the lower end of an already downtrodden group.
Maybe we'll see more from him as the season continues, or this underperformance will eventually lead to him being sent away from the group or just a healthy scratch altogether.