Sheldon Keefe après une victoire décisive contre les Capitals : « C’est super d’avoir [TJ Brodie] dos »
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Jonesdeclectice
@Maple Leafs de Toronto
Sheldon Keefe après une victoire décisive contre les Capitals : « C’est super d’avoir [TJ Brodie] dos »
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Jonesdeclectice
11 Comments
There was stats posted recently that pointed to Brodie being one of the top defensive D-men in the league and I believe it, hes just incredibly steady as a defender and makes a pretty noticeable block or, breakup of an oddman rush at least once a game.
I love him so much. It’s so easy to not notice him at all, but if you just hone in on him, it’s like every little thing he does is just so effective.
He’s so steady that a lot of people don’t understand his importance. You’ll rarely see him get caught, blow a coverage, or turn the puck over. For a team with as much offence as the Leafs, that’s really all you want from your D.
Brodie and Rielly were the top 2 Leafs D in xG% against Washington at around 75%. If Brodie can stay in the lineup I think a lot of the Rielly bellyaching (from myself included) will go away.
It is ideal that your $7.5M D man needs to be babysat? No, but as long as we have a capable babysitter for him then I’m not gonna stress too much about it. If it works it works.
On the « grinder » type goals the Leafs scored:
>The power-play goal was getting the puck to the net and competing hard to get it over the line. There was winning a loose puck on the wall to have it pop out to Mo. Engvall’s goal comes to mind in terms of traffic in front with Anderson.
>Even Nylander’s goal was a three-on-one, but the play kind of gets stalled or fails. There was a second effort there to keep the puck alive. It squirts out, and Willy and Jarnkrok stopped at the net to keep the play alive. Those are good goals. Good efforts by our guys.
>Even the goal to ice the game away in the third period — when you draw it up and talk about a process as a coach, that is what it looks like. You have one line that is out there, controls play in the offensive zone, wears down the opponent, and the opponent is tired. They have to get to the bench. Because we out-changed them, we get a quick-up and a breakaway. As a goal, that is as good as it gets in terms of a process that is in place there.
>For it to work out with our bottom six like that, those are really good results and a good sample of a model we would like to replicate as much as we can.
These are some really interesting insights from Keefe. We know he’s preached for years about generating second chance opportunities, getting to the net and scoring on rebounds. They need to do this to have success in the playoffs. People get mad at the Leafs for dominating possession but not necessarily getting pucks to the net. This is by design sometimes, especially with their bottom 6 on the ice. It seems they want to wear down the other team on the cycle, then ideally get fresh skaters on the ice to capitalize. I think this is a big reason they are such a dominant team in the second period with the long change. Keefe often talks about « leaving the game in a good place », and this is that in action.
Nothing said in Toronto is worth listening too until they actually win in the playoffs
TJ. Brodie is a key piece to our D. He puts everything in its place. Reilly needs Brodie to be who he is, Liljegren $ Sandin need him to be able to play together and Holl needs him to be bailed by Giordano when his brain ocasionally stalls.
Brodie is a legit number 2 D in this league. He’s excellent. And he’s our best overall Defenseman. The one big knock on the leafs is they don’t have a true number 1 D. Reilly has fringe 1 D skills in some areas but certainly he’s a mid pairing at best defensive defender so I’d say on a great cup team, Reilly would be a 3-4 defender overall. That being said, getting a legit 1 D man is almost always a matter of drafting so we likely won’t see one on the Leafs for years.
TJ Brady ain’t bad
More like, it should feel great to have a goalie.
My 3 stars of the game were Engval, Brodie, Tavares*
Brodie has been our most reliable (read: best) defenceman since the day we signed him.