Nazem Kadri and his line are the only players who have been able to drive play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's a little unfair to stack up offensive and defensive numbers like this given the role the players play for Randy Carlyle. Mikhail Grabovski, frequently pummelled in chances, has to play a hard-match against first-liners and generally takes face-offs in the defensive zone. Since the Leafs don't have a good fourth line used for the sole purpose of moving the puck out of their zone, there aren't a heck of a lot of offensive zone starts available for the Leafs?that hurts Tyler Bozak's line as well.
Ray Ferraro on last night's Senators-Leafs broadcasts made the point that Kadri has been playing third liners, but he's been pummelling them. That's been what I've noticed to. If Carlyle has done anything right coaching this year, it's been getting Nazem Kadri minutes he can succeed in. The problem is that Grabovski, Bozak, Jay McClement and David Steckel's minutes aren't being optimized.
Side note, just how good is Clarke MacArthur? Team better look for ways to re-sign him?
