The Leafs are ramping up the physical play in anticipation of the playoffs

With the trade deadline having come and gone, the Toronto Maple Leafs are now firmly focused on a strong finish to the regular season in preparation of (hopefully) a lengthy postseason run.

Leafs GM Kyle Dubas made a trio of additions to bolster his lineup, starting with former Arizona Coyotes defender Ilya Lyubushkin on February 20th. A month later, the additions of Mark Giordano and Colin Blackwell painted a pretty clear picture of what the Leafs were looking for.

All 3 of these players are defensively responsible, physical players whose energy sparks their teammates. We have seem the Leafs ramp up their physicality since the Lyubushkin addition, but Wednesday's game against New Jersey may have been the first game this season where we've seen the Leafs play a brand of hockey that often translates to playoff success.

Lyubushkin and Blackwell each laid 4 hits against the Devils to lead the team, with Giordano not far behind with 3 hits on the evening. Going back to how these types of performances can spark a team, 7 additional Leafs players put up 2 hits apiece. That amounts to 25 hits spread between 10 of 18 skaters.


Credit to Kyle Dubas for constantly finding ways to re-invent this team without having to move its core players. That's not something that's easy to achieve.