The Toronto Maple Leafs are now 7-2-0 without Auston Matthews after their impressive 3-2 win over Utah.
Most people are looking around, wondering why and how the Toronto Maple Leafs have been performing so well. Well, in truth they haven't been. The Leafs are near the bottom of every single team stats except for goaltending and high-danger scoring chances allowed since Matthews went down.
While you can point to the great goaltending to Mitch Marner playing some of his best hockey as a Leaf, you can't forget about their top defensive pairing, which is also doing quite well.
One of the highlights of this season has been the McCabe-Tanev pairing.
The Toronto Maple Leafs best defensive pairing in the Matthews Era
When Chris Tanev was signed in free agency, there was a lot of chatter about the signing. Many correctly pointed out that the term is too long, he's too old, and the contract will be terrible in a few years. The Leafs, however, are in win-now mode and the contract looks perfect right now.
While Rielly-Tanev was used to start this season, Tanev has been paired with McCabe for a long period, and the results have been sensational.
According to Moneypuck.com, the McCabe-Tanev pair ranks second in the league for the lowest expected goals against per 60 minutes in the league (xGA/60) among pairings who have played at least 100 minutes with each other. The only pair ahead of them is De Haan-Malinski in Colorado, who has played 43 fewer minutes than Tanev-McCabe.
They are currently sitting at a 1.25 xGA/60 while also posting an expected goals for per 60 of 2.06 (xGF/60). With this pairing being so reliable, it has been a huge part of the success of the team while they're going through major injuries.
The Leafs have struggled through the Matthews era to find a true shutdown pairing who can also move the puck. Tanev and McCabe aren't prime Erik Karlsson with the puck on their stick, but they don't need to be. They're fantastic in the defensive zone and can make smart, safe and effective plays with the puck. Tanev, specifically is a very underrated puck-mover.
While the pairing has been exceptional, the improvement in defense has been a team effort. Last year the Leafs were 16th in the league in xGA/60. This year there has been a staggering improvement. They now sit sixth in the league in xGA/60 though this is coming at a massive cost and their overall stats are not great. (Stats from EvolvingHockey.com). It is still early in the year, so maybe there is some regression coming, both good and bad, but so far, it has been noticeable and impressive.
Now many will also point out how great the goaltending has been and that's true. That is part of the reason why I'm using xGA/60. The stat allows us to look at how the Leafs are playing defensively while taking away factors like goaltending.
The Leafs are even better when just looking at goals against per 60, where they rank second in the league only behind Minnesota.
They do need to find a way to generate more offense, but I think we'll see an improvement when all the injured players get back. Obviously, not having a 69-goal scorer in Auston Matthews is going to hurt, but he isn't the only one who has been out, or playing hurt before being placed on the injury reserve.
Domi is pretty clearly not a centre, and Knies is now back and Pacioretty was great before getting injured. Kampf and Reaves will also get back, but I don't think they have much of an impact on this roster. This team is most effective when Reaves is scratched, as much as I like him. I have also been advocating for trading Kampf and his terrible contract for a while now.
So far there has been plenty to like from this Leafs team.