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The Toronto Maple Leafs went .500 in December and have scored just four goals in three games (a loss to Tampa Bay and shootout victories over San Jose and Vancouver) in the New Year. A key aspect in their recent struggles has been the ineffectiveness of their power play.
Toronto had the fourth best power play entering last month (23.8%), but in the 16 games since December 1, the Leafs have gone 7 for 43 (16.3%) with the man advantage.
Leafs head coach Mike Babcock indicated after the 3-2 win over the Canucks on Saturday that he did not think the Leafs power play (which went 0-4, including a full two-minute 4-on-3 in overtime) was very good. Toronto’s mediocre performance on the man advantage has coincided with the slump of Nazem Kadri, who went pointless in December and seemed out of sorts on Saturday.
The forwards on the top power play unit have remained constant through the first half, with Kadri, Mitch Marner, James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak and if things do not take a turn for the better soon, you could see Babcock toy with that group by moving Patrick Marleau, William Nylander or Auston Matthews up.
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The Leafs play their fourth of a six-game homestand against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday. The Jackets won 3-2 in a shootout over Florida on Sunday and will be playing the second game in back-to-back nights.
Toronto will make one lineup change, with Andreas Borgman replacing Connor Carrick on the blueline. Carrick was primarily responsible for the giveaway that led to Brock Boeser’s opening goal on Saturday and he and defensive partner Jake Gardiner had trouble escaping the defensive zone at times.
Rookie Travis Dermott will move to the right side and play with Gardiner, while Borgman will take his normal spot on the bottom pairing with Roman Polak.
Frederik Andersen will make his fifth straight start for Toronto, while Columbus will go with Sergey Bobrovsky on consecutive nights. Bobrovsky faced 44 shots against the Panthers on Sunday.
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The Chicago Blackhawks have placed former Leaf Cody Franson on waivers. The 30-year-old blueliner had one goal and six assists in 23 games and did not play for most of the month of December, losing playing time to Jordan Oesterle and Michal Kempny.
Anyone who saw Franson during his two-year stint with Buffalo knows he is not the same defenseman that played for the Leafs. The big right-hand shot has slowed considerably and it does speak volumes that a team with a ultra-thin blueline like the Hawks put him on waivers.
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