{"id":283801,"date":"2025-11-15T02:25:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T02:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/283801\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T02:25:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T02:25:14","slug":"maple-leafs-defence-could-benefit-from-a-change-of-personnel-the-hockey-writers-toronto-maple-leafs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/283801\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple Leafs\u2019 Defence Could Benefit From a Change of Personnel\u00a0 – The Hockey Writers – Toronto Maple Leafs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Things appear to be going from bad to worse<\/a> for the Toronto Maple Leafs as they continue to be their own worst enemy after their 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins. Then a 4-3 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings where the self-inflicted wounds continued once again. The loses are piling up and the heat is intensifying with each disappointing performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They have given up a league worst 3.83 goals against per game and have allowed the most goals against at five-on-five with 50. Once a team that prided itself on defence to limit chances against last year, the Maple Leafs have constantly given up breakaways, odd-man rushes and a number of rush chances per game this season. That alone is a cause for concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The defence is at the forefront of all the scrutiny for the Maple Leafs as there have been costly errors made by everyone<\/a>. While there\u2019s no easy fix to address via trade, making an internal move couldn\u2019t hurt as some veteran players have continued to underperform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Benoit & Myers Haven\u2019t Performed Well<\/p>\n

Morgan Rielly<\/a>, Jake McCabe<\/a> and Brandon Carlo have clearly made a number of mistakes as of late within their own end. Be it poor awareness or turning the puck over at the worst possible time, the mistakes have been glaring<\/a>. While the buck should stop with the top defenders, the depth defenders haven\u2019t done well either.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SimonSimon Benoit, Toronto Maple Leafs (Amy Irvin<\/a> \/ The Hockey Writers)<\/p>\n

Puck movement and breakouts within their own end have been a real issue as the turnovers continue to pile on for the Maple Leafs. The team needs to find a way to get faster and having players like Simon Benoit<\/a> and Philippe Myers as depth defenders isn\u2019t cutting it, as their numbers alone this season support that. Here are their numbers at 5-on-5 as they haven\u2019t been playing to a high level the team needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CategoryBenoit\u2019s NumbersMyers\u2019 NumbersxGF%45.29%45.89%SCF%43.98%44.44%HDCF%43.82%41.67%<\/p>\n

While the Maple Leafs\u2019 defenders\u2019 numbers as a whole aren\u2019t great, both Benoit and Myers are further down the ranks in terms of their overall performance as they have been hemmed in their zone. As of late, they have been less impactful compared to everyone else. Benoit hasn\u2019t truly been a strong defender as he really only had one good season with the Maple Leafs back in 2023\/24 as these charts from Evolving Hockey shows<\/a>. Myers\u2019 numbers are just as bad and even with the Maple Leafs dealing with injuries, his play hasn\u2019t warranted more game time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Benoit hasn\u2019t been consistent enough as a defender as his struggles date back to last season. Myers has gone back and forth between the NHL and American Hockey League in his career. After playing in 36 games with the Maple Leafs last season, he hasn\u2019t had that same level of play and consistency, much like Benoit. Seeing as the team needs to add more speed and mobility with the puck, those are two players that really haven\u2019t done that as they too have had their fair share of poor exits and breakouts.<\/p>\n

Related: 3 Questions the Maple Leafs Must Answer to Find Their Footing Again<\/a><\/p>\n

Which is why it might be time to give other defenders a shot to see what they can do.<\/p>\n

Thrun, Villeneuve Deserve a Call-Up<\/p>\n

If Benoit and Myers continue to have poor outings, it definitely can open up opportunities for other players from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. Specifically for Henry Thrun<\/a> and William Villeneuve<\/a> as they have had good starts to their season offensively.<\/p>\n

\"HenryHenry Thrun, San Jose Sharks (Amy Irvin<\/a> \/ The Hockey Writers)<\/p>\n

Both defenders have eight points in 13 games. Combined, their 16 points clearly surpass the combined two points that Benoit and Myers have. Villeneuve has seven assists\u2013 three of which are primary points\u2013 and a goals for percentage of 58.6% when he\u2019s on the ice. Thrun already has three goals as both are playing well for the Marlies in the top-four. Seeing how the Maple Leafs could use a little more jump, offense on the back end and other moves not even remotely close to getting any traction, why not give two younger players a chance to see what they can do over two struggling veterans?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both players instantly provide a little more mobility and could very well be better options on the breakout compared to what we\u2019re seeing right now. Thrun has a lot of untapped potential<\/a> to his game, as he was acquired in the summer in the Ryan Reaves trade. He\u2019s quiet but strong in transition, which could be a good thing for the Maple Leafs where he can calm things down and then breakout quickly. He could be more of a stronger, two-way player.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"WilliamWilliam Villeneuve, Toronto Marlies (Jonathan Kozub \/ Manitoba Moose)<\/p>\n

In four full seasons with the Marlies, Villeneuve and has tallied 98 points in 178 games. He had a career-best 40 points last season and is on-pace to surpass that this season with 45 points. Coming into the season, I had him as a top-10 prospect in the organization<\/a>, given the growth and steps he has taken to become a reliable defender for the team. He also had some good moments in the preseason. Yes, he can still be raw defensively, but he provides offense and pace, which would be all the more reason to call him up. Benoit is not offensively driven and if Villeneuve could even provide better defence than Benoitl, then that could be in his favour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: 7 Marlies Players to Watch for 2025-26 Season<\/a><\/p>\n

Thrun and Villeneuve aren\u2019t going to be a permanent fix for what\u2019s ailing the Maple Leafs blueline. Though, their performance to start the season could be a reason to play them over two defenders that are struggling in the NHL right now. While there\u2019s plenty of questions for every defender, Thrun and Villeneuve could provide a different element and look for this team. In addition, they could lean on other players to help them through the process and transition. The Maple Leafs need offense and those two can bring just that.<\/p>\n

Statistics from Natural Stat Trick<\/a> and AHL Tracker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Things appear to be going from bad to worse for the Toronto Maple Leafs as they continue to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,48640,448,128979,86788,82,128980],"class_list":["post-283801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-henry-thrun","tag-nhl","tag-philippe-myers","tag-simon-benoit","tag-sports","tag-william-villeneuve"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}