Something looks a little different about this season's Maple Leafs team in the way they play -- are they a slower unit? jtbourne looks into what it means to play fast and how this year's Leafs have changed so far. ⬇
over the past few seasons -- and you didn’t always have to solicit them to come across them -- they would’ve centred around two issues. Some thought they didn’t defend well enough and others thought they lacked grit. You could find other takes, those who didn’t like Freddy Andersen or questioned their depth, but the most common criticisms were about defending and a lack of edge.
We had Leafs radio colour man Jim Ralph on Real Kyper and Bourne after the Carolina game, where he said this: This is a team built to create while the defence is in movement, making them less sure of where everyone is. As a team they’ve been elite in creating chances off O-zone possessions, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that those type of chances have resulted in less actual goals for the Leafs than their “expected goals.” They’re better with things in movement .
After each game I take a look at the Leafs stats to see what might need more attention, and as the season has gone on there’s been a trend that may just be a blip … or maybe it’s not. They rarely connect on any meaningful measure of stretch passes, and their individual zone exit numbers are low. It’s just all a little perplexing from a team we had thought of as a quick strike transition group.
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