Anyone who says only great defensive teams can win in the playoffs is selling you false information writes AndrewBerkshire.
being put on the injured reserve and you’ve got a potential recipe for disaster if everyone is right about the Leafs trending down defensively.Get the best of our NHL coverage and exclusives delivered directly to your inbox!Toronto began this season significantly improved defensively over recent ones, but a slow start from Frederik Andersen and a huge drop off in offensive production from the team as a whole held them back until Mike Babcock was fired.
For the most part, things haven’t changed defensively under Keefe. Taking the good things that Babcock had implemented this year, a little more effort and a few little tweaks has resulted in a slightly better overall process for the Leafs in their own zone. The one area where there seems to be a somewhat significant change for the Leafs on defence is in the number of screened shots they’re allowing on net, which has jumped up by over 25 per cent under Keefe.
The biggest difference has been on point shots, where the Leafs are giving up 3.98 screened shots against per 60 minutes under Keefe compared to 2.5 under Babcock, which makes sense considering what Steve said about forwards being more aggressive with point shooters.
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