I feel like Tavares is involved in quite some goals against lately. I'm not a Leafs fan and aren't watching a lot of them. But when I see the highlights, I feel like he's on the ice often at goals against and with quite some turnovers leading to the goal. I'm probably wrong though

Our blue line (healthy) is quite decent this year. Next year will be the problem.

Actually, you're not entirely wrong. He's having a rough year.

I feel like the narrative is more along the lines of the Leafs are not great defensively, that starts with the guys on the blue line but obviously is not the be all end all, their team defense isn't great which lines up with exactly what you're saying. Toronto had one guy mentioned in the Selke race and he was 14th in voting behind guys like Cierelli, Backlund, Bonino, if you added a defensively strong C to the bottom six I think it changes a lot of things. The blue line is not terrible you are correct, but the team defense is not good.

He was at fault for the 2nd goal last night and plays against the oppositions best so that will lead to goals against at times.

Again that is wrong. It's not the team defence it's turnovers in the offensive zone. When the puck is deep and the opposition starts heading up ice, TO has turned into a very good team that can appear to be not good because they let teams cycle on the outside for stretches. However, they don't chase like they used to and they keep shots to the outside. To my eyes, the recent goals against have been happening when they hold the puck too long in the offensive zone and then turn it over at the opponent's Blueline when 3 or 4 Leafs are deeper in the zone, odd man rushes lead to great chances and they get scored on. It's getting less and less but it happens too much still. If they cut those turnovers down to almost never they will win a lot of games where they don't allow many goals. It's not the defenceman, it's not the defensive game plan or team defence. It's carelessness in the offensive zone and that can be fixed rather easily.

The Leafs are tied with Chicago for 21st in GA/GP. Their goalie is great. Their defensemen are great.

Yeah, that's probably all on John Tavares. Glad we figured that out.

Your not wrong, but in all fairness the team is playing much better defensively since Keef took over. They haven't had much time to get acclimated with his system yet but they're definitely making improvements. Next year we will likely be much better defensively than this year. Heck Keef even got AM to buy in and put more effort into his defensive play.

100% spot on. Team defense is bad. The game plan the Leafs put on the ice involves at least one player (not entirely unusual) if not two players (highly unusual) on the offense cherry picking at the blue line or in the neutral zone when the puck is in their own zone. This leads to some great attempts in the offensive zone but poor team defense in the defensive zone. It's pretty obvious, like last night, what they are trying to do with guys cheating and not playing both zones. Seen this movie before with multiple teams....adds for exciting hockey and lots of goals (both for and against) but fails in the playoffs.

All that said, the defenders are actually doing a pretty decent job lately.

In Chicago, we see this the way Kane plays the game, although lately he has been getting more involved defensively but season stats show Kane on the ice for plenty of goals against. You just hope he has more goals for when he's on the ice and that has been the case but doesn't always work out.

I am huge Tavares fan and even I can admit hes not having a good year so far

Besides Barrie, Leafs D has been better than expected IMO.

I think the Leafs actually have one of the better defencemen cores in the NHL with Reilly, Barrie, Muzzen, Holl, Dermott and Ceci and totally agree with your posting heading that the Leafs Defencmen are not terrible. The problem is actually that the Leafs team defense is poor which is the trade off for their team offensive probably being the best in the entire NHL. As a fan of hockey, I think it is a good trade-off for the regular season because the firewagon hockey played by the Leafs brings back memories of the great Montreal Canadians teams during the 1970's.
Sheldon Keefe is not really sweating the weaker Leafs team defensive game during the regular season because he knows that the Leafs player's will buy in to play a tighter defensive game in the play-off at the sacrifice of team offense because all his players will only be playing for wins and not goals and assists in order to get their names on the Cup.

Would be really interested in Lauden's comments on this post because he is so positive and enlightening to the rest of us on Capfriendly.

Great sarcasm.

The Pens are one of the best teams in the NHL in goals against right now, and their defense currently comprises Chad Ruhwedel, Juuso Riikola, Jack Johnson, a player obtained for a sixth round pick (John Marino), and Marcus Pettersson.

The thing is, there's more to it than just the d-men on the roster. Like the team's defensive system, as others pointed out. All else equal, I'd take the Leafs' blue line before that of the Jets, or the Pens for that matter.

Nobody said that Tavares had all the blame for the Leafs' GA. Yet the fact is, his line was the one matched against top opposition all season long last year, and was rather successful at it. Keefe had to break it apart recently, because it's just not working this year. No doubt he'll bounce back. But not having a designated centre to match the other teams' stars certainly doesn't help this season.

Who needs defense here? We are talking about offensive firepower here in the 1st round of the Stanley-Cup playoffs...

vs

Who wins? Make your bets guys! It's gonna be fun! 10 goals/game - Let the better team win!

" If we use the most recent game against Winnipeg as the example, its hard to argue that TO is bad at defence, all 3 goals were caused by a forward making a poor decision at the oppositions blueline or it was just a bad luck play."







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Good point. Thanks.

Not sure where that is coming from, but when the majority of goals against are coming off turnovers in the offensive zone, usually committed by forwards, it's not the defenceman who are to blame. When the team is back and in position they don't allow many in close shots anymore. It's odd man rushes that cause the damage. Cutting that down will make all the difference.

That is one solution. Another option is to get defensemen who can stop a rush.

So you are taking an isolated game and blowing it up into me blaming Tavares for everything. Not sure what your end game is here but it's probably pointless.

No goals. Just having a conversation. Probably reading way too much into everything, but it seemed like everybody in the thread was ragging on the captain.

Who is going to stop McDavid when he does a move like he did the other night? Who's going to stop a 3 on one with 3 30+ goal scorers coming down. Odd man rushes are never easy to defend and any defenceman is at a huge disadvantage when they get caught on one. That is just a dumb and thoughtless response. Go troll someone else, I thought much higher of you than this nonsense.

Should he a fun one.

Arent they adorable.....the homers......




Are you nuts ? Coming here to a homers gathering and telling them something isnt 100% in their Team. Screw the stats ( we use them only when it fits us ) which are :
GA 23rd.....SA 27th.....SCA 22nd......PK 25th

Pull your sh.t together and get your homework done cause :

Keefe = best coach ever entered NHL ( ignore that hes running TOP 3 Offensive core in the League, tho i give him he isnt afraid to adjust the tactics ingame according to situation )
Matthews > McDavid ( thats why his 5 x 11,634M are justified and if you translate McDs contract into 5 years would be around 11,8M signed into 2019 but watch Matthews sniff 100 points first in ARI )
Mikheyev = next P.Datsyuk
Engvall = next P.Forsberg
Rielly = better in his own zone then Hedman ( i thought Ds should be valuated by playing defence but i was wrong thru all my years of playing on pro level here in Europe )
Barrie = better in his own zone then Josi ( same as above )
Holl = next Lidström playing for 2M
Dermott = next Lidström playing for 2,5M
Andersen = is having each night off, playing leisure Games and not standing on head even if its 53 SA per Game, for all 70 of them
Hutchinson = on the pace of 7 shutouts and turning into next Hasek

and thats only a few things that you should know, i could tell you more but in your ignorance you wouldnt understand

This is LEAGUE'S BEST TEAM OF THE CENTURY and Cup is ours for next three years ( at least ), so shut it or we will come for you ( tho i will wear only a TML T-shirt, OP already stripped me of jersey for not being a homer with blue blinders on )

The problem with the leafs dmen is that they are not good at the defensive game. Take for instance Morgan and Barrie.

Toronto's defensive strategy has been a lot better under Keefe, but there is definitely room for all around improvement. Since he took over Toronto's 9th in GA, 12th in PK% yet 18th in SA.



What's it like having a melted brain?

Morgan Rielly is not bad at defence, he is more offensive and takes chances and that sometimes can cause you to get burned but he's an elite #1 defenceman. Hes been injured this season which has been difficult to deal with for him I think but he's fine. Muzzin is extremely good defensively, Holl has been a revelation and Dermot has been quite good as well. Its not the defence, or the team defensive play that hurts this team. Its carelessness in the offensive zone that causes odd man rushes the other way that burns this team. When they are back defending they just allow shots to the outside. If anyone bothers to watch the games, the defenceman are rarely to blame for goals. Ceci sucks though,.

The Islanders are the best or second best team for goals against and one of the worst for shots against. No one should worry about shots against, especially when they are coming from the outside. Andersen can stop those all day.

As for the guy who is chirping homers, I am convinced he's a fan of a different team posing as a Leafs fan. He only complains and insults leaf fans. He's a joke.