Maple Leafs’ Defence Remains a Cause for Concern

With most of the defense still intact from last season, albeit a few new additions to make them more mobile, the evidence is there to believe that maybe they would once again struggle to defend. We do see a lot more activation in the rush and the breakouts are better, but forcing plays, turnovers and extended zone time have really costed this team points.

These aren’t the results you want to see from a team that had hopes of revamping and shaping the defense during the offseason. The Maple Leafs look more confident when breaking out, but defending the rush and costly mistakes continue to plague them as it has been the case for some time now. 

Maple Leafs Continue to Expose Themselves Easily

There have been plenty of games that really showed the Maple Leafs true colours on defense. Coughing up a 3-0 lead over the Vegas Golden Knights where they were running around in their zone for most of the game, creating mistakes against the Utah Mammoth which was by far their worst defensive effort and letting the Buffalo Sabres comeback to win 5-4 in overtime. 

Head coach Jim Hiller and the players admit they needed to clean things up, but once again, they fail to learn from their mistakes.

It was evident during their recent road trip and their last two outings, but the Maple Leafs defending the rush and giving easy access to the defensive zone has been a real problem. There are barely any challenges to pressure puck carriers in the neutral zone and when they do, they expose themselves way too easily to openings for quick moves around them or backing up and allow the space needed for their opponents to succeed in gaining entry into the zone. 

I go back to a couple of plays that really stood out where there really shouldn’t have been a goal against. 

I could’ve used any goal against from the Mammoth loss, but this first goal really sums everything up. Morgan Rielly is a little passive and hesitant on what to do against Daniil But. He starts to instantly back away from the play, but when he decides to force and attack, he opens his stance up for a move between the legs. This is also a bad goal for Anthony Stolarz to give up short side, but the hesitation and lack of execution from Rielly led to it. 

The Maple Leafs easily giving up zone entries is very problematic. In their loss to the Golden Knights, they should’ve been more prepared on Brett Howden’s goal. They were completely caught off guard by the quick breakout pass and they’re already caught with the Golden Knights quickly attacking. Mitch Marner is left alone at the blueline and had all the time in the world for him to throw the puck in the middle and poor coverage leads to Howden deflecting it very easily. 

Again, poor execution, easy entry and lack of awareness resulted in the goal against.

It’s only nine games and there definitely is still time to figure it out, but the last few games for the Maple Leafs have been déjà vu all over again in regards to their defensive play. If they don’t play with more structure and conviction, then that may be the downfall for their season once again.