After suffering a road defeat to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Toronto Maple Leafs faced the Washington Capitals in the second half of a back-to-back on Wednesday. With the exception of late-season rest games, veteran defenseman T.J. Brodie will sit for the first time in his Maple Leafs career. Sheldon Keefe made the announcement earlier in the day.
After winning the game 7-3, the Maple Leafs took a two-day rest. For the second straight game, Brodie was expected to be a healthy scratch from the starting lineup on Saturday. With a 6-3 victory, the club triumphed over the potent Edmonton Oilers offense once more.
It’s not because Brodie isn’t important to the team anymore; rather, Keefe wants him to “clear his head” after a difficult season in which he hasn’t performed at the highest level defensively while being one of the team’s better defensive alternatives.
What will Keefe and his club do with the veteran defenseman now that the Maple Leafs have defeated them 2-0 without him in the lineup?
Brodie of the Maple Leafs Needs a Mental Reset
Keefe wants to find some way to help Brodie reset his mind. Because of the cancer-related death of his father, Jay, before the season, Brodie’s play on the ice has been somewhat less concentrated than it has in the past.
This is not to suggest that he is only thinking about his loss, but rather that he may be affected by other circumstances as well. Hockey is only a game, after all, and these guys’ lives outside of the rink come first.
From the coach’s perspective, the 34-year-old’s circumstances are just a fresh start.
Keefe stated, “I would just like him to get his thoughts straight about Brodie.” “He’s had a difficult time here from the start of training camp till now. Additionally, he hasn’t really had time to relax, gather his thoughts, and discover who he is because of the pressures we place on him.
With 66 games played, Brodie has averaging 21:51 minutes on the ice for the Maple Leafs this season, second only to Morgan Rielly’s 23:51 minutes through 63 games. Despite being one of the team’s best penalty takers, the Maple Leafs, who are currently 24th in the league, are among the lowest ten teams when it comes to penalty killing this season.
Furthermore, Brodie’s expected-goals percentage has plummeted to 43 percent, a career low for the defensive-minded defenseman, and his play this season has clearly shown this.
Options for Maple Leafs Aside than Brodie
Joel Edmundson and Ilya Lyubushkin were acquired by the Maple Leafs at the trade deadline to increase their depth in the back end going into the postseason. The Maple Leafs have choices on the blue line despite Mark Giordano’s long-term injury reserve due to a head injury, which helps to give Brodie a few games off to rest.
Having said that, it might be challenging to adjust a lineup that has proven successful. In the two games without Brodie giving up six goals against two teams who had some serious goal scorers on their roster, the Maple Leafs’ defense hasn’t looked particularly bad.
But where does that leave Brodie, who has been noticeably one of their weaker defensemen this season? Better yet, when Giordano returns on March 25, that’ll create an even bigger log-jam in the lineup and it’ll be tough to pull Simon Benoit and Joel Edmundson out considering what they can bring to the table and what this team needs going up against a tough opponent come playoff time.
“We’ve added some defensive depth here, obviously, at the trade deadline and we’re in a different position as a team than we were,” said Keefe on Brodie’s spot in the lineup. “So we’ve got a chance, as I said, to really help Brodes and the mental part of it. I think we’re hoping it re-energizes him. And with that comes an extra step. And when you have an extra step, all of a sudden, the puck moves quicker. All of a sudden, you’re defending less. And all these sorts of things start to fall into place. But the most important thing right now for us is just to give him the time that he needs to get back to being himself because he’s a very, very important piece of our team. When he’s at his best, he’s as good a defender as we have and as reliable and consistent a guy as we have. So we’ve got to get him to that.”
Brodie is also set to hit free agency this summer which adds another layer of questions as it pertains to his future with the Maple Leafs. That said, for now, he’s a member of the blue and white and given what Keefe thinks of him, you’d have to assume he’ll find his way back into the lineup sooner than later.
Still, with Benoit, Edmundson and Lyubushkin understanding that they could all be bubble players come playoff time, there will be a lot of heart in their play over the next week or so in the hopes that they stay in the lineup. At what cost to Brodie, we’ll have to wait and see.
