In six games with the Leafs, his 5v5 possession, shots, and scoring chance numbers were all horrible, with teams dominating the Leafs when he was on the ice.
Aube-Kubel was a hitting machine with 20 hits at five-on-five in just 6 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but was seldom in a place to receive a hit suggesting he shied away a little in the defensive end.
Likewise, he wasn?t exactly a strong presence when you look at his Corsi percentage, which is a reasonable judge of puck possession ? a lowly 34.74% which means the Leafs were working hard on puck retrieval, explaining the hitting. (statistics from Natural Stat Trick). A player who hits is helpful, but a player who never has the puck, and so has inflated hitting stats, is not.
https://editorinleaf.com/2022/11/08/toronto-maple-leafs-aube-kubel-2/
Who has played better this year than expected, Kerfoot, contract year syndrome, he has been far more involved/noticeable, good for him and the Leafs, he's actually playing up to his contract but like all the players, can he bring it into the playoffs, if not bye,bye.
I'd be interested to see how well Engvall could do in the top 6, he had a brutal start but he's back, in the bottom 6 he's the only puck possession/mover TO has. Kampf constantly received praise, last year, I often wondered for what? Kampf's game is/was defend, he was/is brutal with the puck which means he is constantly defending unless he's playing with someone that can move the puck, his stats with Engvall were far superior last year, his effectiveness this year to start wasn't praiseworthy. Both Engvall and Kampf had difficult starts to the year so maybe they are dependent on each other, doubtful, fancy stats supports that whoever played with Engvall last year had better results, that wasn't as positive for Kampf. I feel that Engvall is a rock in a hard place, absolutely necessary in the bottom 6 as a puck mover, an actually talented player that might have a lot more to offer when paired with other talented players but is basically irreplaceable in the bottom 6. I even saw him get physical last game during one shift, surprising.
Robertson is an interesting/frustrating type of player, he's energetic which is good but his energy is often misspent. He's turning into a lesser Matthews, wants the puck on the periphery so he can use his great shot, rarely do we see him in front of the opposition's net and he doesn't have the type of talent to hide in plain sight so his ability to use his shot is compromised. It would be great if he could develop more of a Bunting game to compliment his other aptitudes.
I noticed that Matthews is becoming acquainted with the opposition's goalies, his scoring stats are going up coincidently, go figure? I like(love) that Matthews is becoming more defensively conscious, more physical but for my money I want him scoring, controlling play, if these new found attributes actually contribute to his ability to do what he's paid to do then fine, great. If on the other hand these new improvements lend to the excuses as to why he doesn't go into the perilous places on the ice then I prefer he not do them, improve on his ability to score especially during the playoffs is what I'm looking for.
Marner seemed to come out of his slumber the last game, I would say he hasn't been doing anything to improve but he's probably a 100 point player during a healthy year, so what could possibly be wrong? A great deal of that 100 point potential is tied to other players doing the grunt work like going to the front of the opposition's net or even taking shots from the slot. We need Marner to develop a playoff mentality, toughen up, go to the net and maybe even defend with purpose when playing 5v5. So why did Marner play better the last game, he wasn't playing with Matthews on the 1st line? JT with Marner is probably a 40 goal or more scorer. That would be good for TO, JT is a grunt player and Marner has shown a career's need to thrive when the going gets easier and others grunt.
Nylander scored well last year but I liked his game from 2 years ago when we'd often see him around the opposition's net, even then he's desire to go to their net dipped significantly during the playoffs, not something that was likeable.
Get rid of Rielly, $7.5 mil for 8 years for him is insane, that contract seems very Phanny/Kessel, giving him too much because TO hasn't anything better, at this time. I give it 3 years then there will be a collective lament, mine's been going on for years. I'd say Giordano is better than Rielly, I wouldn't be surprised if Giordano could still put up near Rielly numbers while also defending, novel idea, a defensively competent d-man that can contribute offensively, physically, something we've never seen from Rielly.
Anyway, it's nice to see TO winning, again, now we just need to see TO dominating or at least deserving to win which will be hard to do with the players TO added this summer.
