T.J. Brodie has had a rough go of it this season.
The usually steady defenceman has not looked like himself, which is a troubling development for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“Defensively, I think he’s given up more and hasn’t been as consistent as we’ve come to rely upon,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters last week.
The Maple Leafs have allowed 39 goals at 5-on-5 with Brodie on the ice in 44 games — one more than they did all of last season, when Brodie played 58 games. Toronto has gone from controlling 58.5 per cent of 5-on-5 expected goals with Brodie on the ice to 51.7 per cent. (In all situations, Brodie has been scored on in each of his past eight games.)
One of Brodie’s strengths is his ability to retrieve and break out the puck, something he has struggled to do this season. Brodie has engineered a successful zone exit on 70.4 per cent of his 5-on-5 dump-in recoveries, down from 76.9 per cent in 2022-23. His turnover rate in the defensive zone has spiked from 9.4 per cent last season to 13.4 per cent this season.
Brodie has especially struggled when pressured by opposing forecheckers. He has made a successful first play, such as a completed pass, on 71 per cent of his 5-on-5 dump-in recoveries in those situations. Last season, it was 80.8 per cent.
Another area where Brodie has declined is defending the blue line. He has denied 50 per cent of defensive-zone entry attempts at 5-on-5 after stopping 53.9 per cent a season ago.
There is not an obvious solution to lessen the burden on Brodie, who has played primarily with Morgan Rielly on the Maple Leafs’ No. 1 pair since joining the team in 2020. Ideally, Keefe could call on his other defence pairs to help handle tough matchups, but his trust in Rielly and Brodie has not wavered yet.
If the Maple Leafs are serious about competing this season, then they should strongly consider moving Brodie off the top pair.
“Sometimes you go through those phases, maybe (a) lack of confidence (or) you’re not getting the bounces and you grip the stick a little tight,” Brodie told reporters recently. “You just mentally think about (how) there’s more to life than just hockey and it’s not the end of the world if you make a mistake, (even) if it feels like it at the time. You just move on, try to learn from it and forget about it.”
All stats via Sportlogiq
