Major Issue Behind the Toronto Maple Leafs' Struggles Identified
Losers of three straight and starved for offense, some new statistics show that the Leafs need to make a trade to add some firepower if they want any success.
Coming off another loss, this time to the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night, the Maple Leafs offense refused to show up again, only able to put in one goal thanks to William Nylander. They have three goals in their last three games, and have given up 10 in the meantime.
The need for an offensive turnaround is reaching a boiling point, and some unsightly numbers show that if things don't change soon, it could be a long end to the season.
Toronto Maple Leafs Need To Trade For Offensive Help Badly
To put the above tweet into perspective, combined those five players have 181 games played. Total goals? 8.
While it may be able to ignore Ryan Reaves' lack of production given it's not his role, for the others it's inexcusable.
Max Domi is being paid $3.75M for the next four years, and if he's regressing now, then what is to come in the future? Domi doesn't play defense, isn't shooting the puck, is barely making an impact as a playmaker, and is needlessly undisciplined.
This season Domi has three goals and 14 assists to go along with 34 PIM.
Pontus Holmberg is another name that hasn't been the player Toronto needs him to be. Drafted by Kyle Dubas in order to bring a hybrid two-way player to the team, he's been anything but.
His defense has regressed, he's hitting less, taking way more penalties and much like Domi, is seemingly allergic to shooting the puck. Holmberg's not expensive though which is a plus, at only $800,000 and is a restricted free agent at season's end.
This season, Holmberg has two goals and five assists and a minus-3 in 38 games for the Maple Leafs.
Connor Dewar is dealing with injuries and had shoulder surgery to recover from earlier in the season, but he's had several opportunities to get something done and hasn't.
Having scored 18 goals in Minnesota before coming to Toronto, he's scored one since.
He's throwing hits and blocking some shots, but much like the other names on the list; his defense has regressed, is averaging the least amount of ice time since his rookie year, and has the worst faceoff numbers of his career this season.
This year, Dewar has three assists in 29 games and is a minus-2. He is costing the Maple Leafs $1.18M for not a lot of positive output, and is a prime candidate to be traded; he is also a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
David Kampf is the most expensive player on the list, and while he has contributed a bit of offense with three goals and four assists and does bring solid defense and penalty killing; at $2.4M it's a huge overpayment.
Kampf is probably the player on the list who Toronto could stick with and be fine in the long run, as he offers a lot more than anyone else overall.
Craig Berube seems to really enjoy his skillset, and a line of Kampf with Steven Lorentz and potentially Fraser Minten or Jacob Quillan could bring a lot of energy to the bottom line.
Toronto's need for a third line center also means that they'll need to do a lot of work in order to spread out their stars a bit, and adding that piece gives the Leafs a lot more flexibility.
A player like Brock Nelson, though expensive, would be a perfect fit and be able to get Mitch Marner away from Auston Matthews; an excitingly inconsistent duo.
Here's a potential lineup after some pieces being moved around:
Knies -- Matthews -- Domi
Pacioretty -- Tavares -- Nylander
McMann -- Nelson -- Marner
Lorentz -- Kampf -- Quillan/Minten
Putting Marner with two shooters in Nelson and McMann affords him the ability to be a bit more creative and perhaps find himself a hybrid shooter/playmaker as he can dish off to either man and head to the net as they wire shots at the opposition.
Domi and Matthews have had chemistry in the past, and it could be the spark Domi needs to get his game back on track; and if anyone can do it, it's Matthews.
Whatever Brad Treliving does ahead of or on the March 7 trade deadline, he needs to make sure to address his scoring woes and treat it as a top priority. It's great to want to add a bit of extra protection defensively up front, but if you can't score, well...you can't win.
