In and around the world of the Toronto Maple Leafs, we’re used to talking about how they need better goaltending and defence. Not just in the Auston Matthews era but going back well before that, too. What we’re not used to talking about is how they need more from the power play. But that was the case for much of last season, and it’s an early talking point this season, too.
Let’s get one thing straight right off the top: the power play chatter isn’t because the Leafs’ power play isn’t good or because they need better players on it. They’ve already got a multitude of skill and have shown in the past how lethal they can be. Instead, they’ve struggled in two areas — consistency and adaptation, and in both cases, the lack thereof.
Ever since the year of the North Division and Sheldon Keefe’s first “full” season as head coach, the Maple Leafs have gone with a loaded-up power play look on their top unit. John Tavares in the bumper, Auston Matthews and William Nylander on the hash marks, Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly on the point. In theory, this unit has an absurd amount of talent and should make opposing penalty kills hurt night in and night out, but the reality is it’s been a roller coaster. You have the highs, including a finish as the league’s best power play in 2021-22 and the second-best power play in 2022-23, and you have the lows, including a 16th-place power play in 2020-21 and the biggest demon of all, the playoffs.
We’ll focus primarily on last year’s playoffs. Although this has been an issue for years now, the personnel and overall team have changed quite a bit outside of the Core Four. On the other hand, the Core Four is the group that has the most spotlight on them when it comes to this particular issue. In last year’s playoffs, the team carried a power play rating of a measly 4.8%. For context, the only team that was worse than them was the Los Angeles Kings, who didn’t score a single goal and were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in five games.
The core four isn’t directly to blame for that lack of power play production as a unit, considering Nylander and Matthews each missed a handful of games, but when everyone was healthy, they were all on the top unit together, and they were all struggling to find offence. And just because Max Domi and/or Tyler Bertuzzi were taking shifts on the top unit while Nylander and Matthews were hurt, it doesn’t take away from the fundamental issue with it.
The power play was overseen by three different coaches under Sheldon Keefe, including Manny Malhotra, Spencer Carbery, and Guy Boucher. Carbery’s version of the power play was the best on paper, seeing as he was the one in charge when they finished top two in the league two years in a row, but it ultimately failed them come playoff time both years. And no matter who the coach was, the game plan always seemed the same — Marner or Matthews starts the breakout before hitting Rielly with a drop pass before they slingshot into the offensive zone. Then, stick to the perimeters and attempt to wait for the perfect lane before passing or shooting the puck. Often, this would come in the form of a Rielly shot that doesn’t make it past the first defender or a Marner slap-pass in an effort to find Matthews at the top of the circle or Tavares on the doorstep. Too many times, opposing teams have picked up on this game plan and figured out how to effectively defend it, and too many times, the Leafs have continued to try and force it to work instead of counter-adapting.
It might seem counterproductive to alter a top power play unit that consists of a 69-g0al-scorer, two high-90-point wingers, a veteran, longtime No. 1 centre who’s good around the net, and a defenceman capable of 60+ points. But if something isn’t working, you have to try and change it up. And while Sheldon Keefe put his belief into his “ol’ reliable” top unit far too many times when times called for it, it’s taken new head coach Craig Berube two and a half regular season games to identify an issue and try to act on it.
In fairness, it’s not like this was some galaxy brain decision. The Leafs made it pretty easy for Berube to identify that issue. In the first three games of the season, they’re one of four teams not to have scored a single power play goal. And again, it’s been the same issues. Too much perimeter play, too many poor decisions in favour of the perfect play, and not nearly enough pucks to the net. Midway through the home opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Berube took Rielly off of the top unit and replaced him with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who won a Cup with the Florida Panthers last season and spent a considerable amount of time on the power play in the absences of Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad.
post for OEL from the point
the rebound goes right through pic.twitter.com/LMSdtwqGcV
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) October 10, 2024
While the Leafs didn’t score on their two opportunities with Ekman-Larsson back there, the power play looked noticeably better. They controlled the pace of play much better and got more shots on net. It’s no coincidence that OEL leads the team in shots so far and also happened to be the guy Berube looked to for some added spice. Beurbe cited his previous work with the Arizona Coyotes as reasoning for giving him a shot, too.
“He’s run power plays for a long time in Arizona and stuff,” Berube said post-game Saturday when asked about what stands out about Ekman-Larsson on the man advantage. “Shoots the puck from the point. He establishes that shot. Pretty fluid at walking the line and seeing the ice.”
As of right now, Ekman-Larsson is the only change to the top unit. Max Pacioretty is up there, too, but that’s likely only because Nylander is out with an illness right now. Whether he stays there and they bump Tavares down to the second unit or revert back to the core four look when Nylander returns is unknown, but even if it’s something as simple as changing up the blueline personnel, it’s a fresh look. And a fresh look is a step that felt like Keefe was too timid to take for more than a couple of games.
Another noteworthy change to Berube’s power play structure that was evident right from the season opener in Montreal is that he seems to have a hard out for his top unit halfway into the power play if they’re not getting anything done. Keefe would often let the top unit stay on the ice until there were maybe 20-30 seconds left, even if they weren’t getting anything done. The logic is absolutely understandable if they’re sustaining zone pressure and keeping the gas pedal down while on the man advantage, but so far, they haven’t been. I feel like the switch would be better suited for a split-up power play look, but like the OEL for Rielly swap, it’s a good start.
There’s a lot of talk about the Maple Leafs needing to form an identity, and while it rings true that they need to be harder to play against down the stretch if they want to make meaningful progress in the playoffs, that doesn’t mean their identity needs to be centred around hard-nosed, defensive, gritty play. They have way too much talent offensively not to lean into that skill aspect for their strengths, but if they’re going to do that, they need to be excelling when they’re best set up to do so — like on the power play. And while it remains to be seen if Berube will stick to these changes, seeing him identify these issues so early in the season instead of just running out the Core Four + Rielly and hoping they figure it out themselves is a welcomed change for this team.
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