Toronto Maple Leafs: Scoring Struggles by the Numbers
The Toronto Maple Leafs were lifted to a 5-4 victory over the Dallas Stars this past week by their "Core Four" as they were again responsible for each of their goals.
To say that the Toronto Maple Leafs have lacked depth scoring would be an understatement with how the season has gone.
The team is seeing a franchise historic pace of goals by superstar Auston Matthews, while William Nylander is following his breakout season from 2022-23 with an equally impressive year and Mitch Marner is doing Mitch Marner things.
John Tavares is included in the Core Four, but even he is having a down year as he has just 15 goals through 49 games which puts him on pace for 25 goals, which would be his lowest in a full season since his rookie year.
The Maple Leafs captain can thank a recent scoring streak that helped him give his pace a jolt as he has goals in three consecutive games, while prior to that stretch there was some worry he wouldn't crack the 20-goal mark this year.
The Three Big Guys that Need to Get Going
Tyler Bertuzzi would be the face of disappointment this year. The Toronto Maple Leafs biggest free agent signing of the off-season at $5.5 Million (credit: CapFriendly.com), he has recorded just six goals and 21 points on the season, which five of those six tallies came in the first 20 games of the season (credit: hockey-reference.com).
Bertuzzi has not scored since December 27 and has just one goal since November 28; while he did snap a three game pointless streak on Wednesday night he has not recorded a primary point since January 14.
Unlike Bertuzzi, Max Domi has not gotten the opportunity that the former Detroit Red Wings has received this season, but he is still lacking offensively. Domi does have the most points of any forward not part of the Core Four with 20 through 49 games, but has just four goals.
Domi looked like he was getting hot in late December as he tallied eight points in as many games, but has gone cold since that streak ended. The second generation Maple Leaf forward has just two points over his last 14 games and has not scored since January 13 which was ten games ago.
The Swiss Army Knife known as Calle Järnkrok at one point looked like a lock to score 20-goals again this year with ten goals through his first 37 games, however, coupled with being knocked out week-to-week just prior to the All-Star Break and a recent slump he will be unlikely to reach that mark.
Even before being knocked out of the line-up, Järnkrok, like others was going through an unreal cold streak. The 2022 free agent signing had gone nine games without a goal and had gone 20 games registering just three points.
Young Players Struggling During the Long Point of the Season
Matthew Knies has now played more hockey games in one season than he has ever done before and it is clearly showing.
Knies registered an assist on Mitch Marner's goal late in the third period on Wednesday night which was his first point since January 18. The former second round pick has not scored since the calendar turned to 2024 dating back to December 27 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Not only has he not scored, he has often not found the score sheet as he has just four assists over his past 17 games. One could argue that despite not getting any points he has been doing a lot of the details in the offensive zone that leads to Matthews and Marner goals, but it would still be nice to see him collect some more points.
One player you can't blame too much is Nicholas Robertson who has remained in coach Sheldon Keefe's.
Due to injuries Robertson has found a consistent spot on the third line, but before that he was in and out of the line-up despite scoring goals. He has gone three games now without a point, but has averaged less than 11-minutes a night in those contests.
Prior to these three games, Robertson had collected four goals and five points in the previous seven games, while averaging aroud the same amount of ice-time. Robertson is one of three players on the team with an elite level shot than can score from anywhere, he needs to be deployed differently than what Keefe has been doing.
Pontus Holmberg was a steal of a pick at 156th overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and he should have been with the team since the start of the season.
Holmberg was playing really well at the start of the new year collecting seven points over seven games, but has since seen his ice-time and production diminish.
The Swedish center has not collected any points over his last six games, but that is more to do with his current role on the team rather than his game. Holmberg has been moved down to the fourth line as the center and is now centering two unproductive wingers.
Veterans Not Providing Veteran Prescience
General Manager Brad Treliving made a lot of bad moves this past summer, but the worst may have been the extension he gave David Kämpf.
The fourth line center was beloved when he was making $1.5 Million per year on a two-year deal, however, now at $2.4 Million and for an additional four seasons has put more of a microscope over him.
Kämpf is currently injured, but before that happened he had brought no offence to the game and was struggling on defense which was supposed to be his specialty.
Prior to his injury the Czech born center had not scored since December 12 and had collected a grand total of one assist in his previous 20 games.
I am biased towards Noah Gregor as I think he is a solid fourth line player making league minimum. Gregor brings speed and size so you'd expect him to excel down low in the offensive zone.
Unfortunately, he has been blessed with speed but has no finish. Gregor has not scored since December 16 and has just three assists in his previous 20-games.
An undrafted free agent signing, Bobby McMann took the long route to the NHL as he first signed in the ECHL, then AHL before finally getting a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It is hard to be too harsh on him as he is not getting much playing time averaging just over 8-minutes a night through his last eight games. However, despite limited ice-time you'd hope a goal or two would fall in for him at some point. The Wainwright native has just one goal over his last 18 games to go with a pair of assists.
Finally we have the notorious Ryan Reaves who earned a head scratching three-year contract from Treliving.
The Winnipeg native has been horrendous for the most part of the season, however since returning to the line-up three games ago he has played effectively collecting a goal right before the All-Star Game and has been in positions to throw his body around.
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However, he does have just two points on the season through 24 games and has not got in a fight since the second game of the season.