According to Luke Fox of Sportsnet and Jonas Siegel of The Athletic, it appears T.J. Brodie is the odd man out on defense as the Toronto Maple Leafs get set for a playoff series against the Boston Bruins. Playing a team they have a lousy playoff record against, the Leafs need a strong start to the 2023-24 series and speculation is that a blue-line corps that doesn’t include Brodie gives Toronto the best odds.
Brodie scored his first goal in 111 games the other night, but that’s not enough to give him the nod over Morgan Rielly, Ilya Lyubushkin, Simon Benoit, Jake McCabe, Joel Edmundson, and Timothy Liljegren. Connor Timmins and Mark Giordano will be the reserves.
Rielly and McCabe were the locks for Toronto, assuming both were healthy. They’ve been to two steadiest defensemen on the roster. Rielly is the team’s top offensive weapon from the blue line and the team’s power-play quarterback. McCabe is the guts and determination of the defensive group.
Joel Edmundson is an experienced veteran, added for his playoff experience, while Benoit’s inclusion in the Maple Leafs’ playoff lineup is justified by his reliable defensive skills and physicality, earning trust from the coaching staff. Leading the team in hits despite playing only 61 games is one of the key reasons the Leafs like him in the lineup where the physicality is going to ramp up. Benoit and Edmundson will play a key shutdown role and the hope is that they can be a steady presence.
Perhaps the biggest debate would have been Lyubushkin or Liljegren.
Brodie Just Too Inconsistent
The issue this year is that Brodie has been too untrustworthy and inconsistent to be reliable. He’s brought little in the way or energy, physicality, offense, or solid and consistent defense. There have been too many instances of inexplicable play by Brodie this season. Time and time again he’s been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Brodie has had a bad run of late. You know it’s bad when a guy breaks a lengthy goalless streak and the only thing anyone wants to talk about is how he scored and not Auston Matthews. Even Brodie said he’d have rather gotten an assist on his goal.
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