The Maple Leafs Have A Problem on the Blueline, and His Name is Simon Benoit
The Toronto Maple Leafs are losing Simon Benoit's minutes by a significant margin and the coaching staff simply cannot afford to ignore it any longer.
The Maple Leafs haven't dealt with as many injuries on the back-end this year, at least compared to last season. Only 9 defenseman have dressed this season, with one of them having already been traded in Timothy Liljegren and another one dealing with a long-term injury in Jani Hakanpaa.
That has allowed players like Conor Timmins and Simon Benoit to carve out an everyday role with very consistent and steady minutes this season.
With the Maple Leafs nearing the halfway mark of the season in short order, it's high-time to evaluate the roster and locate the positions of need and it sounds like they could really use a solid bottom-pairing defenseman, which explains their recent trade talks and interest in players like Luke Schenn and Cody Ceci.
Simon Benoit has suited up for 35 games this season and has accumulated 4 assists, a plus-2 rating, 95 hits and 45 blocked shots, all while averaging 16:43 TOI. While those numbers look pretty solid, especially for a bottom-pair defenseman, his analytical stats paint a different picture.
The most shocking numbers come while on even-strength where the Leafs are over 12% better with him off the ice. Their xGF% with Benoit on the ice is a paltry 41.1%, whereas it jumps up to 53.6% when he's off, as pointed out by The Athletic's Kevin Papetti.
If that wasn't startling enough, there's more. His On-Ice Shot Attempt% (Corsi) is dead-last among Leafs defensemen who have played over 50 minutes at 38% as is his On-Ice Unblocked Shot Attempt% (Fenwick) at 40%.
Comparatively, fellow depth defensemen in Timmins and Myers are tied for third in both categories at a respectable 47%.
Benoit also comes in dead-last for On-Ice Expected Goals Against Per 60 Minutes, On-Ice Shot Attempts Against Per 60 Minutes, and his On-Ice Expected Goals Differential comes in at an abysmal -15.6 with the next worst being Jake McCabe at -4.5.
With the Maple Leafs looking to add a bottom-pair defenseman, they could look to do it sooner rather than later if Benoit's play continues to negatively impact the team. \
He still represents a solid depth option, but perhaps more so as a rotational piece rather than an every day player.
