The Jake McCabe medical report completely changes the evaluation of the Leafs defense
Photo credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
Jake McCabe may be dealing with some pretty rough injuries if Elliotte Friedman is to be believed, and it shines a bright light on why the team struggled on defence.
You've got to hand it to Jake McCabe this season, as he's someone who has held down the fort in the wake of Chris Tanev's absence and is looked at as a leader on and off the ice.
Toronto's invested heavily into him given they signed him to a five-year extension last season, and though his offensive game hasn't reached the levels it did when he first arrived; he's doing everything well.
McCabe, 32, has 25 points in 79 games to go along with 188 blocks, 102 hits and a plus-3 in 22:26 TOI this season.
But with the season over and McCabe looking towards a fresh start next year, he's going to hopefully also have some fresh legs to look forward to as well.
Battling through a heavy physical injury makes the veteran the ultimate locker room foreman
The Maple Leafs' locker room could be considered tenuous at best and with there being so much dysfunction in the organization, but at least McCabe has been rock-solid — even if he's been heavily injured.
Taking a look at some of the injuries McCabe has dealt with this year you can see why they are starting to clearly take their toll on the veteran.
In addition to missing a week with a lower-body injury, his knees have been out through hell, his 188 blocks aren't exactly the lightest of shots, and there's still questions about his concussion history after a scary fall last season.
But all through this, he managed to only miss three games all season and looks ready to play the finale against Ottawa on Wednesday and continue to lead the team through the rough waters of the Atlantic — bruises and bumps be damned.
Relying on a compromised player completely exposes the lack of defensive depth in Toronto
Though, the team really shouldn't need to have McCabe sacrificing himself a la King Leonidas in 300.
While the loss of Tanev was a genuine blow to the blueline, it shouldn't be up to McCabe and a 35-year-old Oliver Ekman-Larsson to help carry the load.
Morgan Rielly didn't really do much defensively, Simon Benoit and Philippe Myers were ineffective on the best of days, and the team never got what they needed from Brandon Carlo.
They also never decided to give names like Henry Thrun, Matt Benning or Dakota Mermis a true chance besides emergency call-ups, and if the team was becoming so porous on the back end, wouldn't it have made sense to try a different look?
Your one true solid pickup of all things was Troy Stecher off waivers. He was solid and is the ultimate team player, but you're asking a depth player to log 22+ minutes a night simply because you don't have the right guys who can.
The team had more than enough bodies in the AHL to bring up and replace the likes of Benoit and Myers if things weren't good, but instead of utilizing their depth they relied on Stecher and prayed that Rielly and company could shut things down.
What was so good last year was clearly Toronto's downfall this year. You don't give up 292 goals strictly on bad goaltending alone. Could they have saved a few more? Sure.
But the rest of the guys in front of them needed to be better, and relying on a broken Jake McCabe is a serious oversight that got lost in the limelight of a contentious season.
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