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It is no secret; there is a whole lot of frustration coming from Toronto Maple Leafs fans with the team on a six game losing streak, and only eight games remaining before the playoffs.
Up until about a few weeks ago, the Leafs were doing quite well. They were in a good position for a shot at the playoffs, they were playing above .500 hockey, and appeared to have the confidence required to find success in this league.
So what went wrong?
To be perfectly honest, I don’t believe that much has actually changed with this team. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been struggling to play defense for the majority of the year, in fact even as far as last season. And while I am sure there are plenty of fans who would rather not concede to a certain fact, but Jonathan Bernier and at times, James Reimer, is what has held this team together by disguising their defensive gaffes.
Sure they have received some strong scoring from their top lines which has helped them overthrow some poor defensive play as well, but it has ultimately come down to how great the goaltending was when determining a win, or a loss.
With that being said, it stands to reason that this is certainly not a recipe for success in any professional league. A strong, successful team should play as a united group. One where their selected leaders lead by example and those who were brought in for specific skill-sets play to their strengths and aren’t mismanaged.
Ah, I bet you can see where I am going with this now, can’t you?
In order for this team to find any success carrying forward, there are a few things that need to happen, and I’ll start from the top – coaching.
Randy Carlyle appears, for all arguments sake, to be a good choice for an NHL coach. He, again, appears to have the proper hockey mind and level of experience needed to guide a group of hockey players to not only the postseason, but hopefully the Stanley Cup one day.
With that established, what is it then that Randy Carlyle is struggling with? For this writer, it appears that Randy’s biggest challenge seems to be playing specific players to their strengths, and not trying to necessarily force said player to adapt to a style which may expose their weaknesses. Furthermore, it should be rather apparent by now that the defensive system (whatever that may be), either isn't very strong, or isn't suited to the personnel available to the coach.
The Toronto Maple Leafs happen to possess a few too many offensively minded and gifted defensemen on their roster. While this isn’t necessarily an issue on its own, trying to pair two players together who like to jump into the play (Gardiner & Rielly for example), for me, appears to be shortsighted.
What can you really expect, as a coach, from pairing two of your youngest most inexperienced defenseman together when your team is not only on a losing streak, but continues to be the worst ranked team in the NHL when it comes to giveaways. Then again, the rest of your defensemen aren’t doing any better, either.
Here’s the thing – when a team is struggling to find wins and seem to be in a rut, it should be the captain of said team in addition to the coach who find ways to motivate the team. Whether this means that Phaneuf would need to put on a clinic and play to the best of his ability during every shift until others follow suit, or simply that Carlyle needs to try something new, is left to be seen. When it comes to the Toronto Maple Leafs however, I argue these two most influential members of the team are simply not getting it done.
With fewer than 15 games remaining in the NHL season and the team fighting to keep a playoff position, I would certainly hope that the captain of said team was one of, if not the best player. And when looking over the Leafs most current losing streak, there is one thing that is certain – Dion Phaneuf has been bad.
There are likely many of you out there who will find that perhaps I’m being a little too critical of one player given that it is a team sport, but when your captain isn’t one of your better players on the ice and his assignments are scoring left right and center, something's got to change.
And before you start calling for my head, we should not lose sight that the team’s defense as a whole are still quite young and as such, could stand to mature. However, the Leafs defensive woes have been an issue for quite some time, and the one player who should be expected to take others under his wing and lead by example, could stand to learn a few things himself.
Now I can’t sit here and tell you that Phaneuf’s play could improve with a better partner or perhaps less ice time, but what I can say is that if the Toronto Maple Leafs captain continues to be a defensive liability and their coaching staff can't solve their defensive woes, the team will have a very tough time to find any success moving forward, with or without strong goaltending.
Thanks for reading!