Brodie has struggled all season long and while he's played better down the stretch, Simon Benoit has earned the first crack at it.
Brodie has struggled all season long and while he's played better down the stretch, Simon Benoit has earned the first crack at it.
BOSTON — Sheldon Keefe was very careful when asked why TJ Brodie appeared to be the odd man out for the Toronto Maple Leafs defense that will suit up for Game 1 against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
"I haven't made any lineup decisions that we'll talk about here. But we've got lots of good options on defense," the Leafs coach said.
But unless Keefe makes any last-minute changes or elects to dress seven defensemen, the 33-year-old Brodie is expected to be out of the lineup as the team opens up their 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
And it is the right call to make.
Had Brodie been selected for Game 1, it would have likely come at the expense of scratching 25-year-old Simon Benoit, who has exceeded expectations this season.
Signed to a one-year, $775,000 contract in late August as a depth piece, the 25-year-old found some solid chemistry alongside Jake McCabe as of late. The duo have skated more 5-on-5 minutes than any other Leafs defense pair since the trade deadline, logging 334:56 together, a whopping 140 minutes more than the next pair.
And they've been successful.
While tasked with some tough assignments, the duo still managed a shot share percentage of 53 percent and an expected-goals percentage of 56 percent, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
On March 29, the Leafs rewarded Benoit by extending him to a three-year, $4.05 million contract. Simply put, they are invested in Benoit for the future.
On an individual basis, Brodie has struggled to capture the reliable form he has displayed during his first three seasons with the Maple Leafs. Toronto made him a healthy scratch for the first time in his tenure on March 20 to give him a "mental reset".
While Brodie has struggled this season, an argument can be made that he is not the seventh-best defenseman on the team. He could be fifth or sixth. But Brodie, a left-handed shot, hasn't been reliable on the right side this season, which was a particular strength of his. The Leafs re-acquired right-handed Ilya Lyubushkin from the Anaheim Ducks. The Leafs like the chemistry Morgan Rielly and Lyubushkin have had in their time together.
It all came down to the bottom pair on defense. The Leafs acquired Joel Edmundson from the Washington Capitals on March 7 with the intention that he'd boost Toronto's physical presence in the playoffs. Although Timothy Liljegren has also struggled this season, he's a right-handed shot that can play alongside Edmundson and round out the team's third defense pair needs.
Edmundson and Liljegren have a very limited sample size together as Edmundson has missed more games due to injury than he's been available for down the stretch. Liljegren was also injured for a brief time down the stretch as well.
It comes down to trust from Keefe. And he trusts Rielly with Lybushkin. He trusts McCabe with Benoit. And with more invested in Liljegren (a restricted free agent at the end of the season) than Brodie, an unrestricted free agent, it makes sense to give that pair a chance with the playoff-seasoned Edmundson.
That leaves Brodie on the outside looking in to start. But if the Leafs struggle in Game 1, a Leafs defense that is seen to be somewhat fluid could easily install Brodie back into the group for Game 2.
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