Time to Hit the Reset Button! Leafs Power Play Needs a Complete Overhaul to Break Circle of Frustration

It’s nearly mid-January, and we’re still talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs’ power play woes. Sure, it’s not the major issue it was back in October when they were riding a ghastly 3-for-38 streak, but if that’s the bar, then what are we doing here?

After their latest 0-for-3 display in a 3-0 shutout to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night, the Leafs’ power play dropped to 19th in the league, behind the likes of the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, and Columbus Blue Jackets. It seems silly on paper to vouch for going scorched earth in any area when you’re talking about a team that’s first in their division and playing some of the best defensive hockey they have in the Auston Matthews era, but when you’ve got a 60-goal capable forward in Matthews and three other elite forwards, you can’t have your power play being a non-factor let alone a weakness.

There has been some discussion in the media circle recently about whether or not the Leafs should move on from new power play coach Marc Savard given the slow start, but the truth is, he’s not the problem. It’s great that the Maple Leafs’ power play finished first in the league in 2021-22 and second in the league in 2022-23, but at this point, should we be celebrating a strong regular season power play? If this team had a reputation for deep playoff runs and a threatening power play that remained strong the deeper they got into the playoffs, then yes, perhaps it’s a Savard issue. But regardless of whether the power play is run by Savard, Manny Malhotra, Spencer Carbery, Guy Boucher, or whether it’s Sheldon Keefe or Craig Berube behind the bench, the team has never been able to systemically eliminate their issue with the power play running dry beyond April.

I wrote about this exact issue a little over two months ago, and honestly, you can go back and read that piece and the point is virtually the same. The bottom line is that there should never be a world where a team that boasts a 60-goal scorer, a playmaker who has sniffed 100 points for years on end, a forward who is gearing toward his third-straight 40-goal season, and a forward who has been a well-established elite talent in the league since 2010 should be struggling so hard with the biggest advantage on their plate. Yet, for whatever reason, this talking point continues to pop up. At this point, the Leafs need to blow up their power play units. It’s a tad drastic, sure, but drastic is what they need sooner rather than later in order to stress the urgency that if this team wants to make a deep playoff run, we can’t be having these conversations come April.

As it stands, and as it’s been the case for a half-decade now, the Maple Leafs load up their top unit with the core four of Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares, with Morgan Rielly on the back end. Most of the league has adopted the loaded-up top-unit strategy, and for most teams, it works. The Leafs aren’t excluded from this. We’ve seen this unit lead the team to a top-two seed twice from a power play percentage standpoint, so it’s not like they’ve forgotten how to play, but they’re routinely being solved by other teams and don’t seem to have a solution besides trying the same zone entry over and over again. That whole saying about the definition of insanity rings true in these circumstances.

If the Leafs are going to keep trying the same thing and hoping for different results, the team should break up the power play units. Have Auston Matthews and William Nylander on one and Mitch Marner and John Tavares on the other, and start whichever unit you think has the best chance to give you the lead in that specific moment. If Matthews has two goals and six shots, start that unit. If Marner has a goal and two assists and has been connecting with Tavares all night, start that one. And, Morgan Rielly, for as much of a warrior he’s been for this team, does not have his jam offensively this year. Oliver Ekman-Larsson has five fewer points than Rielly with a fraction of the time on the power play and not only has a better shot from the point but has experience running a power play in the past.

The Leafs’ power play looked so lifeless on Saturday that they could have iced a unit with Ryan Reaves in front of the net and Simon Benoit on the point and they probably would have had equal odds of lighting the lamp. That’s how bad it is right now. Sure, maybe the core forwards’ average time-on-ice (TOI) on the power play will even out a little bit, but what’s the point of giving those players so much extra ice time if they’re not even icing a competitive power play? Why are they more deserving of it than players like Matthew Knies, Max Domi, Nick Robertson, or Bobby McMann at that point?

The point remains that this team simply can’t afford to have a sputtering power play for the fifth year in a row. Not when they’re built the way they are. The Leafs rightfully deserve their flowers for their commitment to improving as a team defensively, and for the strong play they’ve gotten between the pipes. But at the end of the day, there’s no scenario where they can go on a long run without a working power play. And after five years of the same five players on that top unit and the same ill-timed dry spell, it’s more than just Marc Savard or Craig Berube’s problem.