Overtime thoughts

As I write this, the Maple Leafs are sitting at the top of the Atlantic division, and they have gotten there with little to no help from their back end. 38 games into the season, the defenceman with the most goals so far is Morgan Rielly with four.

Brad Treliving and the Leafs have built a defencemen core with mostly big defensive-sound guys, with Morgan Rielly being the main source of Offense from the back end. The issue is that four goals and 14 assists are just not good enough numbers for a number one defenceman, especially when making 7.5 million dollars per year. That is all I’m going to say about Rielly since this is not by any means a hit piece on him because he is relied on for much more than just his offense but Leafs fans have to pray he finds his game and gets closer to how he played in 2019 when he scored 20 goals and finished the season with 72 points.

The issue is far more than just Rielly’s lack of scoring because no other defenceman on the team has scored more than one goal. How does that happen? Columbus, Washington, and Colorado all have a defenceman with 11 goals so far, which makes me wonder, is this on the players or the coaching staff? Certain teams clearly have figured out how to use their D-mens as offensive weapons. Last year, Jakob Chychrun scored 14 goals all year playing for the Ottawa Senators, and the Capitals chose to trade for him in the summer, which is looking more and more like one of the best deals we have seen this year because he is already up to 11 goals in 38 games. Is Chychrun playing that much better than last year, or did the Washington staff put him in a position to succeed system-wise?

I hope the Leafs staff can find a way to get their D-mens to contribute offensively because trading for an offensive defenceman midway through the season is hard to do without overpaying. I wonder what the Sharks would ask for a guy like Jake Walman, whom they acquired earlier this year from the Red Wings. He is a six-foot-one left-shot defenceman who currently has five goals and 25 points on the year, only making 3.4 million dollars. I’m curious to see if Treliving panics and makes a move, or does he waits it out. Time will tell.