Ken Hitchcock on the Toronto Maple Leafs: “They get credit for how fast they play offensively, but their strength is how fast they play defensively… They are way more accomplished on the 200-foot game than they get credit for”

A team like the Maple Leafs coming in with their depth down the middle, how do you split up your team to defend against something like that?

Hitchcock: That is the new NHL. It used to be you built it around the goalie and the top-four defensemen, but now, it’s built around four centers. When you’ve got a 1-2 punch, it is effective.

There have been a lot of teams that have great one-two punches, but to me, the key is the third guy. The third guy has to do all of the heavy lifting, and that is what Kadri does.