A Deep Dive Into How the Toronto Maple Leafs Top-Pairing Did Without Rielly
By James Tanner
The Toronto Maple Leafs are perfect since Morgan Rielly was suspended.
Though they did play the Blues twice, and the Flyers and Ducks once each, so it's not like they ran a gauntlet or anything.
Still, the Toronto Maple Leafs should be proud of their performance without their blue-line's best player.
One good thing that came out of the suspension was Timothy Liljegren being moved up to the top pairing with TJ Brodie, who played the left side.
As the following staistical analysis will show, Liljegren performed very well when moved to the top of the lineup. Previously, he has succeeded in a third-pairing role, but the Toronto Maple Leafs coach, Sheldon Keefe, has never trusted him for more.
It will be interesting to see how that changes going forward.
The emergence of Liljegren as a possible top-four defenseman would be a massive gain for the Leafs, whose blue-line is extremely bad compared to other top teams.
Therefore, let's break down the four games and see how he did.