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Toronto Maple Leafs R&R - Revisions & Rumors

November 27, 2013, 11:02 AM ET [235 Comments]
Colin Dambrauskas
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Follow Colin on Twitter!: @ColinDJD

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 4-5-1 in their last ten games. Throughout said games, they have allowed 28 goals to be scored against them, while only scoring 18 of their own.

They have had a few too many injuries which has caused them to struggle with consistency and as such have suffered in terms of defensive stats such as blocked shots(3rd to 8th), faceoff wins (25th), giveaways (1st), and are currently ranked 3rd worst in the league at shots allowed per game.

It should be quite evident by now that the Toronto Maple Leafs have likely won a few too many games this year as a direct result of strong goaltending. As displayed on Monday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets, when their goalie isn’t standing on his head the Leafs defensive woes really stand out – and this isn’t a shot at Reimer’s play.

Toronto has had a rough November so far and the truth of the matter is that December is expected to be as difficult, if not worse. With the team currently slumping of late with their consistency, coach Randy Carlyle will surely need to remedy their defensive despairs, as they will only continue to get worse before they get any better.

With that established, we are left to discuss what the Leafs may have at their disposal in terms of potential improvements, and further wherein their inadequacies carrying forward may lie.

At the present moment, it has been well document by about every writer around the league that Toronto has not displayed a strong defensive team game. While the team maintains that their high shot totals are negligible as they continue to stem from the perimeters and not high scoring areas, this statistic needs to improve.

With their inadequacies at the faceoff dot, in addition to their high number of giveaways, the Leafs have often struggled with puck possession this year. That said the return of Tyler Bozak should help in one of two of these areas of concern, whereas the other is likely to persist.

As I alluded to, the Leafs despite having a lot of fire power, have been struggling to find the back of the net at a consistent pace. While injuries have certainly been a major factor here, I feel that one of the problems experienced by Toronto has been their inability to play to their strengths. Thought to be a team who possesses many offensive defensemen on their roster, the Leafs have had but three goals for the year from their back end – not exactly respectable.

With that being said, it seems apparent that the coaching and management staff should either start to play to the Leafs’ current strengths, or make changes necessary to bring in the right personnel who can play the systems which are being implemented. Known to prefer his shutdown, physical defensemen, Carlyle appears to be trying to get the wrong kind of play out of guys like Jake Gardiner, Morgan Rielly, and Cody Franson who are stronger offensively than they are defensively.

Playing Franson, for instance, against the opposing team’s top scorers while also providing him with the 2nd highest TOI may not be the wisest of choices for this roster. While Franson has improved his overall game and has arguably earned his right to play a high number of minutes, a player of his ilk is most effective with lesser minutes and more offensive responsibilities.

Furthermore, in spite of having a higher number of shots from the points, it appears that the “defense first” mentality may be limiting the team’s ability to play to their strengths, which ultimately exposes their weaknesses.

And while improving upon their defensive play is an area of concern for this group and will not be an easy fix, it seems to me that the team should either make necessary roster changes to better fit their game-plan, or change their on ice strategy to better suit their personnel. As W.C. Fields put it - If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it.

While it’s without a doubt that many of you are sick of the repeat button with respect to the rumors concerning the Leafs and Canes, it appears that the dialogue expressed between fans of late may have been toward the wrong player.

In a recent statement from Insider Trader on TSN, they mentioned that while the Hurricanes would like to move defenseman Tim Gleason, it is Tuomo Ruutu that the Leafs would need to take back in exchange for JM Liles. Depending on your take of what the Leafs can use in terms of upgrades, for me this essentially shuts the door on this potential exchange between the two clubs. In my humble opinion, Toronto is in no real need to bring in a guy like Ruutu who would essentially work out to be a glorified version of Nikolai Kulemin.

I suppose an argument can be made that the Leafs could use an extra physical player and Ruutu’s 55 hits registered in 19 games could arguably help out in that regard. Though I wouldn’t argue against this notion, Kulemin has registered 27 hits in 12 games which isn’t too far off in comparison. I do however get the impression that Kulemin’s aggressiveness isn’t necessarily on the same level as is Ruutu’s, and perhaps there is value here.

As we’re on the topic of discussing potential rumours, it appears that the Philadelphia Flyers may still be dangling two centermen who the Leafs are likely to have much interest in. With their lack of high end center depth being a continuous concern for the team, I often wonder if Dave Nonis pulls the trigger on a deal bringing in a guy like Brayden Schenn or Sean Couturier who, according to Darren Dreger, are both available at the moment for the right price.

In order to acquire any one of these young centermen, Toronto would without a doubt need to move a guy like Jake Gardiner and some. As it should be to no one’s surprise that Gardiner is the Leafs most likely candidate for trade discussion of late, I imagine that Nonis is simply waiting for the best offer to come his way as the team, currently 4th in the Eastern Conference, shouldn’t be dealing from a position of weakness.

Moreover, if the Gleason/Ruutu discussions weren’t enough, Dreger has recently added that Nonis has been talking to the Rangers about Del Zotto who has been struggling of late to gain ice time with his new coach. According to Dreger, the dialogue between each team has been focused around a Gardiner for Del Zotto deal, and further that "Nonis will absolutely embrace a big time change on the D."

Personally, I don’t think this is the type of trade needed from a team such as the Toronto. As mentioned, they currently ice several offensive type defenders and could use an upgrade in terms of a young, shutdown guy who can hopefully also skate.

There is certainly going to be some movement from the Leafs in the upcoming weeks as it appears that Randy Carlyle may not be content with his defensive pairings at the moment and is perhaps sending a message to Nonis. Don’t believe me? Carlyle was practicing with Gardiner and Rielly playing together yesterday afternoon in preparation for tonight’s game against the Penguins – not exactly a line that will be able to effectively shutdown too many forward lines, I ‘d imagine.

What do you think? Where should the Leafs focus their attention the most in terms of potential trades? Should they be interested in the likes of Gleason, Ruutu, and or Del Zotto, or should they be more focused on acquiring guys like Niskanen or Fayne?

Thanks for reading!
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