Okay, so you didn’t miss a Maple Leafs skills competition. This is just NHL Edge data. Ooooohhhhh you’ve been had by internet clickbait. Vent appropriately on social media.
Anyways, it’s the middle of summer it seemed like as good a time as any to take a look at who did what from a faster skater, hardest shot perspective and to stick with the clickbait theme, you won’t believe who stood out (unless you looked at the title and saw it is Bobby McMann.)
Here is the data from NHL Edge showing the current Leafs and their 2023-24 numbers for top speed and frequency of it. (Top numbers highlighted in bold.)
| Top Speed (mph) | Speed bursts over 20mph | Top Shot Speed (mph) | Shots over 90mph | |
| Simon Benoit | 22.56 | 49 | 89.7 | 0 |
| Connor Dewar | 22.05 | 83 | 86.53 | 0 |
| Max Domi | 22.52 | 111 | 96.46 | 2 |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | 22.93 | 48 | 93.21 | 3 |
| Pontus Holmberg | 22.51 | 98 | 78.62 | 0 |
| Calle Jarnkrok | 21.93 | 66 | 89.36 | 0 |
| David Kampf | 22.65 | 96 | 85.53 | 0 |
| Matthew Knies | 22.2 | 98 | 92.39 | 2 |
| Timothy Liljegren | 21.96 | 48 | 91.74 | 1 |
| Mitch Marner | 21.73 | 40 | 89.72 | 0 |
| Auston Matthews | 22.47 | 116 | 91.43 | 1 |
| Jake McCabe | 22.25 | 60 | 92.07 | 1 |
| Bobby McMann | 23.45 | 143 | 90.04 | 1 |
| Fraser Minten | 22.28 | 7 | 81.39 | 0 |
| William Nylander | 22.35 | 141 | 96.51 | 10 |
| Ryan Reaves | 22.32 | 18 | 95.24 | 1 |
| Morgan Rielly | 22.66 | 98 | 89.3 | 0 |
| Marshall Rifai | 19.01 | 0 | 75.53 | 0 |
| Nick Robertson | 21.99 | 41 | 95.56 | 6 |
| Alex Steeves | 19 | 0 | 41.54 | 0 |
| Chris Tanev | 21.15 | 40 | 83.82 | 0 |
| John Tavares | 22.39 | 105 | 88.11 | 0 |
| Conor Timmins | 20.24 | 3 | 88.47 | 0 |
Here are 10 interesting findings
- Bobby McMann can skate. You probably noticed he doesn’t do anything half-assed and he’s a full effort player every single shift he’s on the ice. The fact that he played a lot fewer games than his next closest contender when it comes to speed burst (William Nylander) it amps up the excitement about what McMann can bring as a full time Leaf. McMann was also the only current Leaf to break the 23 mph mark, with newcomer Oliver Ekman-Larsson being the next closest
- Nylander is pretty damn skilled. We’ve already mentioned him jetting around the ice, but Nylander also is one of only two Leafs who consistently was hammering the puck, and Willy also hammered it the hardest.
- Nick Robertson having the third hardest shot behind Nylander (and Domi) and having the next highest frequency of 90+ mph shots can lead to the assumption the Leafs could use him in their lineup. If Willy is hammering the puck on the first unit powerplay, it might necessary for Robertson to be the guy on unit number 2.
- The Leafs might have just scratched the surface on what they can get out of Max Domi. His second hardest shot on the Leafs probably makes you want him to shoot more but the fact that he was having frequent 22 mph speed bursts last season shows he can hang with Auston Matthews easily.
- On the flip side of all these positive numbers, the fact that Mitch Marner doesn’t stand out in speed or shot doesn’t mean that he’s bad by any means. Marner’s skating control not his top speed is his advantage and I’m sure you’ve noticed he can pass the puck. While dumping on Marner seems to be Toronto’s favourite past time, not having the highest marks in any of these categories doesn’t mean much if you can get results other ways.
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson has the hardest shot and was the most frequent user of his hard shot in 2023-24 out of the defencemen. This should make him a lock for seeing time on the powerplay and I wonder if it will get him a look on the first unit so Morgan Rielly can play a more appropriate role on the second unit.
- Obviously defencemen don’t use their speed as much as forwards or at least not forward skating speed, but Rielly having significantly more speed bursts than the rest of the blueliners while playing a lot more minutes is noteworthy.
- LOL @ Ryan Reaves’ 95 mph shot. He’s not the first big guy who can really lean into the puck and it would be bizarre if Craig Berube started using Reaves the way Pat Quinn and Paul Maurice used to deploy Chad Kilger, but don’t be surprised when Reaves does it again.
- Some interesting points of comparison here. Evan Bouchard had 112 shots over 90 mph and Nathan MacKinnon had 717 speed bursts over 22 mph. That’s what the 99th percentile looks like.
- If you are using this data to gauge signs of aging and fatigue, John Tavares had a higher top speed in 2023-24 than in 2022-23. He had more speed bursts over 22 mph and a harder shot. It’s not an NHL Edge stat but his ice time also went up. Maybe it just was the powerplay that hurt his numbers, not age.
After going all through this and not so much drawing conclusions as forming reactionary opinions, I’ll put out the disclaimer that NHL Edge data, while interesting, is just part of the story. For a few players it really highlights how they use these two skills to achieve success in the NHL. Others not so much. That doesn’t change the fact I would like one Leaf who really wants to hammer the puck with frequency.
