Leafs Special Teams

[Arn]

First up, the penalty Kill.

Since the last lockout, the Leafs have never been above 24th in the league in PK

05/06 24th 80.0% 99 PPGA
06/07 27th 78.5% 90 PPGA
07/08 29th 78.1% 77 PPGA
08/09 30th 74.7% 78 PPGA
09/10 30th 74.6% 73 PPGA
10/11 28th 77.4% 62 PPGA
11/12 28th 77.3% 55 PPGA

But so far this year the PK is at 85.3% putting the Leafs 5th in league PK having conceded just 15 PPGA in 32 games.

That's an incredible turn around. What's caused this, especially as the team has been SO poor over the last lot of years? Is it purely down to McClement being there as that is one of the main reasons he was brought in? 

I'm not sure how any one else feels, but this year a penalty doesn't feel like an automatic goal against as it did in the past anyway.

The powerplay is much more middle of the pack - 18th place at 17.7% with 20 PPGs on 113 chances in 32 games which is roughly around where it has been over the years since the lockout (bar 09/10 when it fell to 145, good for 30th in the NHL putting the Leafs 30th in PP and PK, ouch).

I guess looking forward if we could somehow improve the PP even enough to get top 10 in the NHL and keep the PK where it is that could push us up the standings that little bit more.

 

[drummond]

I am not trying to disrespect McClemment, he is an absolute force out there on PK, but there are more factors behind the very much improved PK.

1. Improved goalies: goaltender is your best penalty killer, it may sound as a cliche, but the simple fact that both Reimer and Scrivens improved their SVS% and reduced GAA translates into SH as well. Both are above .915 while shorthanded (Scrivens actually has not surrender SH goal yet)
2. Defense: Mark Fraser (2:00 SH TOI/G) is very solid on PK, Carl Gunnarsson (2:16) does quietly his job, Korbinian Holzer (2:34) is not top pair material, but he is pretty effective on PK, Dion Phaneuf (3:00) is much batter defensively this year. Compared to last year the only solid penalty killer was Gunnar.
3. Forwards: Here comes the audition of McClemment (3:36 SH TOI/G). Huge improvement. I believe Kulemin (2:09) thrives in that role as well. He may eventually become Selke Trophy material. We should not forget Komarov (1:43) who is very sound defensively. And Bozak with his face-offs.
4. System: What I have noticed, Carlyle wants his players to use their sticks and push the attacking forwards on the outside and keep the play along the boards as long as possible. The Lefs also clear bodies from the net far better than in the past. In general the Leafs are more aggressive on penalty kill.
5. Finally the Leafs are relatively little penalized, naturally the less times you play shorthanded the less you get scored on. Your PKers are not exhausted etc. Another factor is that our best PKers are rarely penalized, which also helps.

 

[bustaheims]

1. Improved goalies: goaltender is your best penalty killer, it may sound as a cliche, but the simple fact that both Reimer and Scrivens improved their SVS% and reduced GAA translates into SH as well. Both are above .915 while shorthanded (Scrivens actually has not surrender SH goal yet)

You're looking in the wrong column there. Those are their overall Sv% numbers, and Scrivens hasn't allowed a while the Leafs have had the PP. Scrivens has a PK Sv% of .879 and Reimer's .875 - allowing 8 and 7 goals respectively.