Two Maple Leafs Underperforming Becoming the Odd Men Out: Jani Hakanpaa and Conor Dewar Returning

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Chris Gerics
November 5, 2024 (7:56)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have two reinforcements coming soon, and that spells bad news for two underperformers: Pontus Holmberg and Simon Benoit.

So far the Toronto Maple Leafs have not had the best start this season. Sitting at 6-5-1, they've been disappointing not only offensively, but for as much as their defense improved, they still have a few players not pulling their weight. Luckily, Toronto will have reinforcements soon in Jani Hakanpaa and Connor Dewar, not to mention whenever Calle Jarnkrok can return, and hopefully kickstart things in the bottom of Toronto's lineup.

If you were to look at numbers, two very distinct players have been very poor so far for Toronto, at least offensively (although they've done nothing much defensively either): Pontus Holmberg and Simon Benoit:

The statistic xGF% calculates the expected goals for percentage and is based on the percentage of scoring chances each player brings when they are on the ice. As you can see, Holmberg is dead last, ranking below Ryan Reaves and Nick Robertson, both of who have a combined 1 point this season. It's a pretty pathetic display from Holmberg, and given that head coach Craig Berube gives him opportunity after opportunity and he doesn't impress; he should probably be benched way more. He doesn't shoot much, is an okay passer, and is often forgotten on the ice; as in people forget he's even playing.

Benoit on the other hand doesn't have much offensive production normally, but the fact that when he's on the ice the expected goals drop nearly 10% is rough. Toronto consistently being out of the offensive zone with fewer opportunities because Benoit on the ice is a detriment; if Benoit can't get the puck out of the zone, offensive opportunities go down. Even Morgan Rielly, who struggled early on and has started to slowly pick it up ranks over 50%, and don't be surprised if Craig Berube decides to bench Benoit in favor of Hakanpaa.

Both men are easy candidates to be replaced by Dewar and Hakanpaa respectively. If the Maple Leafs want to be serious about making a change to their bottom half of the lineup, they should take a moment to reflect on how bad these two have been on the ice and give them a mental reset because there's clearly something not clicking right now.