Leafs’ icing on the cake
Affinity for launching pucks up ice amounts to a relatively low-risk gamble
Morgan Rielly, the Maple Leafs defenceman, was recently informed of a statistical curiosity that says something about how his team plies its craft. Heading into Wednesday’s match in Carolina, the Maple Leafs were leading the NHL in icings, according to the web site MoreHockeyStats.com.
Toronto had committed an average of about 10 icings a game. As a point of comparison the Winnipeg Jets, currently vying with the Leafs for the title of Canada’s best team, had been guilty of about half as many. Only the Colorado Avalanche had iced it less frequently.
“I didn’t know that,” Rielly said. “But that’s not all that surprising.”
Deadpanned Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen: “Maybe our forwards aren’t fast enough to hunt down those pucks.”
Andersen’s jab was in jest, we think. Toronto’s predilection for icings is product of a few things, lack of speed not among them. For one, Toronto’s entire defensive philosophy is based on quick transition. To minimize time defending, the Maple Leafs prioritize prompt passes out of the zone, or, if pressure’s arriving, a less-thanartful play off the glass and into the neutral zone. If that puck doesn’t find a Toronto stick after crossing the red line, it’s a recipe for an icing.
“Lots of times it’s just a bad play by the defenceman,” Rielly said. “You try and put it off the glass or up the middle, and you just put too much mustard on it.”
On an off night, the habit can occasionally make a Maple Leafs game feel like one long, slow procession back to the defensive zone for another in a line of faceoffs. But there’s some common sense to the trend. The Leafs, a team built on speed and skill, are enamoured with the stretch pass. They led the league in stretchpass attempts last season, according to thepointhockey.com. They’re using it plenty again this season. And while more than a few Maple Leafs have spoken of the importance of not over-using it, it’s seen as an omnipresent possibility on a list of offensive options.
“When you get the puck, you try to play it like a quarterback and look for the home-run pass,” centre Nazem Kadri said. “A lot of times we have the type of wingers where we just say, ‘Go.’ And if (the home-run pass) is not there, you check down and look for guys underneath. When I play with (Kasperi Kapanen), every time I touch it and I’ve got full control, I know Kappy’s going.”
Those long passes — from the defensive zone to forwards streaking beyond the red line — can lead to icings, too.
“There’s going to be times when you make the long play or the chip play and it’s not going to work out,” Rielly said. “That’s not a good thing, because you’re taking a D-zone faceoff. They have an opportunity to change and get a matchup. So it’s not ideal.”
According to MoreHockeyStats.com, the Maple Leafs have won just 46 per cent of the defensive-zone faceoffs immediately following an icing. That’s below their 51 per cent season average heading into Wednesday.
“The question is, ‘Are the icings costing them?’ Or are they good enough, say, in the faceoff circle to work around the problem?” said Roman Parparov, the San Jose-based stats enthusiast who maintains MoreHockeyStats.com.
According to Parparov’s numbers, Toronto has been scored against six times within 30 seconds of committing an icing, tied for sixth-most in the league. Not ideal. But given the volume of icings, not especially punitive, either.
Indeed, the Maple Leafs came into Friday in third place in the league standings and fourth in goals for per game; their speedbased approach is working. And their affinity for launching pucks up ice amounts to a relatively low-risk gamble.
“With how well our team skates, the pressure we’re putting on the opponent with our forecheck is just so hard for them to handle. It creates a lot of offence and offensive zone time,” said John Tavares. “But when we’re not connecting, not getting a stick on it, we’re having to start back in our own zone. It’s just having that balance.”
Balance is key. Overusing the stretch pass allows teams to adjust and take it away. Regularly checking down and hitting the option underneath is important, too.
One stat Parparov doesn’t keep, and it’d be difficult to track, is how often teams beat out impending icing calls by winning the foot race to the dots. Toronto has a handful of players — among them Kapanen, Zach Hyman and Connor Brown — who’ve made that a regular mission.
“Especially with Kappy and Hymes, they tend to beat it out. So you do ice it on purpose occasionally,” Rielly said.
Alley-oop-style flip passes or pucks banked up the boards that create a foot race — they’re a viable part of Toronto’s at- tack.
“It’s the play for me, to be honest,” Kapanen said. “Hockey’s changing into a faster game. We’re trying to use our speed as much as we can. We have good centremen taking good draws, so if we ice it we’re not too worried about losing the draw in the defensive zone.”
For his part Andersen, who’s been Toronto’s most reliable performer, said he’s OK with the steady stream of faceoffs to his left and right, even if he’d like to see a few less a game.
“It’s fine to take an icing over a turnover. That’s something you can’t be too upset about,” Andersen said. “Even though guys are a little tired (because the icing team can’t make a line change), you’ve still got somewhat of a chance to reset and maybe get another draw and get a chance to break out.”
Said Rielly: “I feel like we’ve been (icing it) a bit more than we should. So, something to work on.”