Not every Leafs deadline acquisition has had the intended impact, but there's one who has blown expectations out of the water
It may have taken a little longer than Leafs Nation would have hoped for, but the Buds officially have shown signs of life in the 2nd round after a 2-1 win on Wednesday to bring their series against the Panthers to 3-1.
There were a lot of reasons why the Buds deserved last night's win and plenty of players who had an impact on the game, but as far as physicality is concerned, Noel Acciari has led the way for the Leafs in a big way. Since the start of the playoffs, Acciari has racked up a total of 69 hits, which leads any other player in the entire playoffs by a pretty decent margin. Acciari currently holds a 17-hit lead over Adam Larsson, who sits in 2nd with 52 hits.
The breakdown of Acciari's hits per game is as follows:
R1 Game 1: 7
R1 Game 2: 3
R1 Game 3: 9
R1 Game 4: 6
R1 Game 5: 9
R1 Game 6: 8
R2 Game 1: 7
R2 Game 2: 10
R2 Game3: 3
R2 Game 4: 7
Not only is Acciari leading the league in playoff hits, he's also 2nd among forwards in blocked shots in the playoffs as well with 16 blocked shots. Funny enough, his teammate, Auston Matthews, leads all forwards in the playoffs in blocked shots with 17.
Nobody knows what's going to happen with Acciari this summer. The pending UFA will likely have no shortage of teams interested in his services, but there's no doubt that he makes the Leafs better and a much tougher team to play against. He's a guy I'd really like to see back in Toronto next season.
| POLL | ||
MAI 11 | 105 ANSWERS Not every Leafs deadline acquisition has had the intended impact, but there's one who has blown expectations out of the water Would you like to see Noel Acciari back with the Leafs next season? | ||
| Yes | 87 | 82.9 % |
| No | 5 | 4.8 % |
| Only if the price is right | 13 | 12.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
