Bourne discusses the Leafs’ defensive improvements but points out that they have somewhat robbed Peter to pay Paul in the process, becoming notably worse offensively. The premise of worsening offensively while improving defensively – even though this team has traditionally struggled to score at playoff time – is worth discussing further.
I don’t want to copy and paste Bourne’s whole article, but he pulls a few stats worth flagging. I imagine that some of the numbers below are starting to crater as Auston Matthews continues to miss games, but in the big picture, they are more indicative of what to expect from this team when healthy.