How the Maple Leafs have become the NHL’s worst defensive team

“Well for me, it’s more about some awareness,” Berube said the following day. “We gave up a couple goals off the weak side there, two defencemen coming in there and scoring. That’s our weakside forward awareness, a little bit. For me, still it’s the odd man rushes and how they occur at times. We did a better job at times, and we have to improve on it.”

It feels like every odd-man rush will end up with the puck in the back of the Leafs’ net, and this goal by Tage Thompson is a key example. Buffalo breaks out of its defensive zone rather easily, and Toronto’s forwards don’t track back until it’s too late. Matthew Knies makes a late attempt to pick up Bowen Byram, but Thompson is left alone for a high-danger chance, which he capitalizes on. Knies isn’t the main culprit either, as Philippe Myers was caught puck-watching, while Matias Maccelli is barely in the frame.

The enduring image of the Maple Leafs’ season thus far may be a 3-on-2 rush, where both defencemen are caught flat-footed by a speedier opponent, and it’s occurring during wins, too. During a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Flames on October 28 , Jonathan Huberdeau flies through the neutral zone unimpeded, before dishing the puck over to Morgan Frost, who registers the game’s opening goal.

Team defence is a complete effort, and while the entire Maple Leafs’ defence corps will be excoriated at this rate, it doesn’t help when the forwards have no interest in defending either. Flames forward Joel Farabee blows by Max Domi, who offers no resistance to the net. It’s not entirely on Domi, though. Brandon Carlo just stands idly by and does nothing to deter Farabee’s pathway either. This has been a recurring issue from Carlo, who hasn’t displayed the mobility that was expected from him, upon being acquired from the Boston Bruins at the 2025 trade deadline in exchange for a 2026 top-five protected pick ( you will probably hear this ad nauseam ) and Fraser Minten. Carlo also allowed Anthony Stolarz to get flattened during an October 18 loss to the Seattle Kraken, and after a scorching start to the season, Morgan Rielly has cooled off considerably, especially in his own zone.

“It’s improving, that’s the biggest thing,” Stolarz said of the Leafs’ rush defence, following the win over the Flames. “It’s a long process, it’s a long season. You’re gonna have those break downs, it’s inevitable. We’re all human, we’re gonna make mistakes. They’re gonna get odd-man rushes, we’re gonna get odd-man rushes. I liked our game tonight, I think we kind of limited their chances. Guys were smart about stepping up in the neutral zone, and I thought we formed a wedge in the middle there and limited their offence.”

If there was improvement from the Leafs’ rush defence, it was certainly short-lived. The following night, the Maple Leafs allowed the Columbus Blue Jackets to get every look they wanted, off the rush and with sustained offensive zone time alike. Columbus thumped Toronto 6-3 in a scoreline that may have been flattering, while the national attention was firmly on the Toronto Blue Jays. It was the Return of the Autobahn , and Blue Jackets defencemen Zach Werenski scored off a modified version of The Flying V.

It was a particularly awful night for Rielly, whose unforced turnover directly led to Ivan Provorov’s followup goal. And with the game out of reach, Matthew Knies, John Tavares and Auston Matthews get caught too far up the ice after the Blue Jackets win a defensive zone faceoff, and Rielly is unable to defend the ensuing 2-on-1, displaying some poor gap control.

Toronto’s defencemen are panicking during zone exits. Rielly, Carlo, Myers and Simon Benoit are habitually struggling with rimming the puck up the wall, and the entire team is getting punished off turnovers. During a November 3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, spurred by a frantic third-period comeback, Benoit fumbles the puck while driving the zone, and Erik Karlsson scores off the counterattack.

Here’s another example of a costly turnover: during the Maple Leafs’ most complete win of the year against the Utah Mammoth on November 5, Carlo and Rielly submitted a poor game. Carlo gets picked off by Lawson Crouse and gets outworked trying to win the puck back. Rielly compounds the mistake by chasing Crouse behind the net, rather than picking up Michael Carcone, who is left wide-open.

Myers makes a critical blunder on the Hurricanes’ game-tying goal, unable to rim the puck up the wall with enough force to exit the zone. Rielly stands around inattentively, and Taylor Hall ties the game at 4-4.

It would be easy to pin the Maple Leafs’ defensive woes on Chris Tanev’s injury-related absence, but he was also off to a slow start to the year. Jake McCabe is Toronto’s best point-of-attack defender, he’s playing with real physicality and is making a concerted effort to show more offensive pop.

McCabe is also committing uncharacteristic turnovers, which are being capitalized upon with routine frequency. And with the game tied in the third period, McCabe makes an unforced error, getting picked by Nikolaj Ehlers in his defensive zone. Ehlers whips in a cross-seam pass to K’Andre Miller, who deftly drops it to Logan Stankoven, and it’s 5-4 Hurricanes.

Toronto left Dennis Hildeby out to dry, and an exasperated Berube came to his goaltender’s defence.

“He made a lot of saves. We gave them, what, three breakaways in the second period? Maybe four? I don’t know. I lost count. It has nothing to do with the goalie,” Berube said.

Through the first 17 games of the season, the Maple Leafs are showing poor gap control and not picking up the crashing man during odd-man rushes. They are struggling with simple zone exits, often caused by an inability to skate out of the zone, or a weak pass up the wall that stays in the defensive zone. Last year, Toronto made a concerted effort to clear the net-front, but have allowed 21 high-danger goals at 5-on-5 this year, the third-worst total in the NHL, reflective of its propensity to allow opponents into the low slot.

Turnovers in the defensive zone are habitual, and the Maple Leafs’ scorching offence cannot obscure the fact that they are the NHL’s worst defensive team this year. For the first time during the Matthews era, a playoff spot is in jeopardy. Can the Maple Leafs fix their glaring problems?