Maple Leafs TJ Brodie breaks his silence on his recent struggles

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Graham Montgomery
January 21, 2024 (9:32)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have struggled defensively this season. A big part of the reason for this has been the fall off from veteran Leafs blueliner TJ Brodie. Today he addressed his struggles this season.

The veteran defenseman has seen a dramatic fall off in his performance this year. While the 33-year-old has likely seen some age-related regression in his play, he has also been dealing with off-ice issues that could be affecting his mental game.

Sounds like Brodie is going through some tough times outside of hockey

Hold your head up high TJ we love you bud

TJ Brodie: «There is More To Life Than Just Hockey»

Given the seriousness of the off-ice events in Brodie's life over the past year, he correctly has pointed out that there is more to life than hockey. It seems like he has developed a mentality that if he makes a mistake, its not the end of the world. While it is not necessarily detrimental for Brodie to be more forgiving of himself, it is also true that the Leafs need better performances from their defenders going forward.

"You just mentally think about there's more to life than just hockey and it's not the end of the world if you make a mistake, it feels like it at the time. You move on and try to learn from it and forget about it."

The Leafs are in real danger of missing the playoffs this season. While Leafs fans may be unlikely to hold Brodie's performance against him given the off ice issues he's dealt with, the team still needs to figure out how to improve if they want to make a serious playoff run this year.

As seen on BladeofSteel

Leafs defender speaks openly about his struggles on and off the ice, calling into question whether he should continue to play