Toronto Maple Leafs a rising hockey power
After too many years in the wilderness, fans of the National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs have had much to cheer about in recent years. Brian Burke acquired Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf, Joffrey Lupul and Jake Gardiner in trades, while current GM David Nonis has taken the same route to pick up Johnathan Bernier and Dave Bolland. Free agent signings David Clarkson and Mason Raymond, plus draft selections such as Nazem Kadri and Morgan Reilly point to a bright future.
Not so fast, the Leafs haters say. Toronto sucks, management is clueless, Phaneuf's a pylon, Kessel's a soft cherry picker, Bozak's not a #1 centre, Kadri's overrated... we've heard all that and ten times more, so let's look at some statistics from last year, the 2012-2013 NHL season.
Maple Leafs move up in many NHL categories
Team shooting percentage: 11.47% - 1st in NHL
I can provide one insight into this, and that is the unselfish play of the Buds in recent years. Even goal scorers like Kessel, van Riemsdyk and Lupul are all happy to make the extra pass so a teammate can bang it into the empty side of the net. Tic-tac-toe, there you go!
Penalty killing efficiency: 87.9% - 2nd in NHL
McClement, Kulemin, Phaneuf lead a Carlyle-style defensive assault.
Individual standouts:
Tyler Bozak took the 2nd most faceoffs in the entire NHL last year, one of only three players (Claude Giroux, Eric Staal) to take over 1,000.
Dion Phaneuf and Nikolai Kulemin were 2nd and 3rd overall for most minutes playing against high quality competition (Corsi rating).
Nazem Kadri was 3rd in the entire NHL for points per 60 minutes played, behind only Sydney Crosby and Eric Staal.
Cody Franson was 4th in assists by a defenseman, and 8th in overall D scoring. With Phaneuf in 10th, Toronto and Montreal (Subban, Markov) were the only teams with two D in the top ten.
At +16, Mark Fraser was 6th among all defenders, proving he learned the New Jersey system well.
Among goalies who started 10 or more games, Johnathan Bernier (1.88) was 2nd in GAA, behind only Craig Anderson (1.69!) of Ottawa.
Phil Kessel was 8th overall in NHL scoring race. Over the past three NHL seasons, Phil is ranked 4th overall in total scoring, behind only Stamkos, Malkin, and Giroux.
Over the past three seasons, Dion Phaneuf is ranked 4th in total goals for defensemen, and 10th for total points.
It's too early in the 2013-14 NHL hockey season to use statistics for meaningful comparisons, however some clues are emerging. There's a lot of compete in the Leafs, and teams would be wise not to try and out-muscle this group of united malcontents, for Randy Carlyle has molded a cohesive gang out of willing, hungry twenty-somethings.
The 2013-2014 Toronto Maple Leafs have responded well to adversity including suspensions and injuries. Early indications are that Leafs haters are uncomfortable in their skin, utilizing far-fetched analogies in futile attempts to deny the grinding reality on the ice.
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