When I joined the Toronto Maple Leafs’ front office in 2017, our team had a clear vision of how it eventually wanted to play:
Control the puck on exits and entries
Get off the wall and into the middle of the ice to create offensive advantages
Kill rushes early with a combination of tightly-gapped defensemen and backchecking forwards
Deploy the best hockey players on the 18-man roster, regardless of size or (lack of) truculence
The recipe didn’t result in playoff success, so from 2022 on the Leafs began playing more like teams such as the Carolina Hurricanes or the New York Islanders:
Get out of the defensive zone quickly via any method possible
Minimize neutral zone risk-taking and instead get the puck deep whenever pressured
Passive NZ forecheck to absorb speed and force dump-ins
Get bigger, stronger, tougher at the expense of in-possession ability
As much as players are responsible for the lack of consistent postseason results, I find it more regretful that it is the folks who build and run the team who have progressively abandoned what they seeked to build.
It is acceptable to lose games and playoff series. Most teams, most seasons do not go all the way.
It is less acceptable to lose your identity; what makes you different and better.
Competing in the NHL is a privilege that is afforded to the select few. One must to be the best version of themself rather than a denatured, mediocre version of someone else.
Anyway, here are some things TOR can try as its season winds down.
1. Get Timothy Liljegren back into the lineup
Trade deadline acquisition Joel Edmundson has been outplayed at 5v5 without the benefit of being effective on the penalty kill. There is no point in continuing to dress the physical but possession-negative newcomer at the expense of Liljegren, a player who’s earned his role with the Marlies/Leafs since age 18 and had been part of the program when it was at its best.
2. Roll it back on the penalty kill
Yesterday I tweeted about how Boston’s been able to pick apart Toronto’s 1-2-1 diamond PK.
The diamond, when properly executed, is effective at preventing point shots and flank one-timers. However, BOS has wreaked havoc by getting the puck into the high slot, behind TOR’s F2.
The solution is to revert to a 1-1-2 (wedge+1) setup, as used by the Leafs in previous playoff series against the Bruins.
F1 plays 1v3 against the point and flank players.
F2 is present in the high slot area, preemptively denying seam passes and offering help on low plays.
Fs exchange roles at the puck is moved from one side to the other.
Ds stay near the net and do not chase outside the dot lane or above the hashmarks
This more passive setup didn’t work fantastically against BOS’ top unit of years past, but Torey Krug is in St. Louis, Patrice Bergeron is retired and Brad Marchand/David Pastrnak have been split up for most of the series. Against Zacha, DeBrusk, Geekie and McAvoy, defending the high-danger area first is the way to go.
3. Roll it back on the powerplay
In past BOS-TOR series, the Leafs didn’t exactly light the world on fire on the powerplay. But at least they were able to score once in a while.
One play TOR ran with occasional success was a quick strike off the faceoff, with Mitch Marner on his strong side.
From the 2019 series:
From the 2018 series:
How this could look like in Game 5:
Marner at the right flank as the primary puck handler
Rielly at the point
Matthews at the left flank as a high catch-and-shoot or backdoor tap-in threat
Tavares at the goal line or screening the goalie
Nylander in the bumper or rotating onto the left flank for a onetimer