October 17, 2009.
Heading into their seventh game of the season the Toronto Maple Leafs defensive troubles seem as though they can't get any worse. When looking at the team stats for the Toronto Maple Leafs, they have the worst goal differential in the league with a staggering minus 15.
In the off season the Leafs beefed up their back six by adding two proven stop gap defenders in Francois Beauchemin, and Mike Komisarek, as well as signing physical defenseman Garnet Exelby. After looking at the Leafs abundance of talent on the blue line coming into the '09-'10 season, no one expected to start the year 0 and 6, leaving the fans wondering what went wrong?
With a total of only 13 goals for and 28 against I am inclined to believe that this defensive problem spreads further than the Leafs blue line. My suspicions were confirmed when I decided to dig a little deeper and look at individual stats. Out of 22 players that have logged minutes on the ice so far this season, only two leafs have a positive plus/minus (+/-), Alexei Ponikarovsky (+4) and Ian White (+3). Of course on a team with such abysmal defensive numbers, honourable mentions should go out to Mikhail Grabovski and Rickard Wallin who both possess an even zero on the +/- sheet. The rest of the team ranges between -1 and -6, with players like Tomas Kaberle, Jason Blake, John Mitchell, Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek tipping the scales at the wrong end of the spectrum. Realistically, four of those five players mentioned are guys that are expected to lead by example and set the bar for the rest of the team to follow; not to mention they make up a total of $16.5 million in cap space this year, and rank 2nd through 5th on the Leafs highest paid list.
Why might this defensive collapse be happening? To be honest, an opening 6 game losing skid shouldn't be very surprising to many Leaf fans. Keep in mind that of the 23 men on the game day roster, nine (sometimes ten) of those players are brand new to the team this year. Why does that matter? Think of taking your favorite beverage and filling 40% of the glass with water, it waters down the chemistry. Same rules apply to the Leafs' roster. Adding so many new players to the mix means that it's going to take time for everyone to get used to playing together, especially the defensive pairings. Of the six defencemen that typically suit up for a game, three of those are new to the lineup; and when it comes to hockey, or any sport for that matter, so much of a team's success has to do with chemistry amongst the players.
Another factor could be Toronto's on-ice communication. The new guys on the team might not be as vocal on the ice as they should be in order to let their linemates know where they are, if they're open, and if pressure's coming or not. Being an ex-defenseman myself, I know that playing with someone new definitely takes some getting used to. You don't know how one and other will be positioned on the ice to react to certain situations both offensively and defensively. Communication between players on the ice can be a major factor during a teams games. For example, the line of Stalberg, Mitchell, and Orr may not have worked out a call system for their on-ice communications yet. If that's the case, it will be easier for the players of the opposing team force turnovers against that line, simply due to the fact that they must rely solely on their vision to find their linemates, which causes a slight hesitation before initiating the play. If players aren't communicating with each other while working in the offensive or defensive zones, you might as well let the opposing team send out a sixth man. Anyone who's played the game of hockey at any level, knows that hockey is a game of milliseconds, and a split second too soon or too late could mean the difference between winning and losing. Communication definitely allows you to gain those critical seconds in a game to turn the tide in your favor.
If you ask me, Toronto's chemistry and communication are two major contributors to their current defensive problems. These are factors that ultimately lay the groundwork for defensive errors, which result in goals against. Give the Leafs a little longer to gel as a team and I can guarantee you that things will begin to turn around come early November. That will allow the new guys a few more weeks to intigrate into the system and build the necessary chemistry with their new linemates. Of course let's keep in mind that when a team is going through a rebuilding process, these are the type of headaches that we must endure, but trust me, we'll be better off in the end.
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