Expanding on the Goals Breakdown by Period post, I’m presenting a breakdown of some of the more prominent Leafs points producers based on their assist breakdown by player.

The tables are broken down as a player listed in the header as the main player being analyzed. Each assist is differentiated between a first and second. I don’t feel that makes a difference to who ‘set up’ the goal, since order is determined at random at times it seems. Nonetheless, assists are broken down between first and second.

These assist breakdowns are all at even strength, no special teams.

Using Tyler Bozak as an example with Phil Kessel, the Leafs sniper scored 11 goals in which Bozak earned assists, 7 first assists, and 4 seconds signified by the AB1 and AB2 column headers. Kessel conversely had nine assists on Bozak goals signified by A01 and A02 headers.

Chart Legend:

Gls – goals scored by listed players

AB1 and AB2 – Assists by player on goals of listed players

AO1 and AO2 – Assists by listed players on goals scored by main player.

GF – goals for

GA – goals against

GF/20 – goals for per 20 minutes

GA/20 – goals against per 20 minutes

Data is provided through hockey-Reference.com and hockeyanalysis.com 

Jumping out is the departed Luke Schenn’s five points, garnering an assist in 5 of 14 goals for while both were on the ice. Noticeably absent is Jake Gardiner, where the two players combined for one assist on the power play, a goal scored by Bozak on Jan 31, 2012 in a 5-4 shootout loss to Penguins.

If there’s an argument to be made of reuniting Connolly between Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul perhaps a pace of setting up a Kessel goal once every 49 minutes at even strength in relation to Tyler Bozak’s once every 82 minutes. It’s a flimsy argument, at best. I don’t believe Connolly is the man to line up there. That’s Bozak’s spot to lose barring further changes through acquisition. 

Right at the bottom is an interesting, albeit small sample. I find intriguing because I maintain that Clarke MacArthur is in Nazem Kadri’s spot, second line left wing. Combining with Grabovski for a goal every 15 minutes is an encouraging sign. The potential here is another ‘piece’ inserted into a prominent role.

The Leafs sniper obviously had a lot of success with Bozak and Lupul, then it thins out throughout the lineup. Lupul would add assists and Leafs captain, Dion Phaneuf both earned five assists each on Kessel’s 10 power play markers. 

The Russian struggled to score with anyone other than Grabovski and MacArthur. Noticeable as well is that Kulemin doesn’t have a negative gf/ga ratio with any player other than Matt Frattin. Digging a little deeper he was on the ice for 15 goals and nine against with Gardiner and 8/11 with JM Liles. 

The rushing blueliner scored four goals on the power play and spread his playmaking around with nine assists amongst the Bozak/Kessel/Lupul first power play unit. At even strength, other than with Kessel, Lupul and Crabb, he had a negative goal differential. 

Lupul lined up with Grabovski shared 38 minutes of ice with seven goals for and three against at even strength. That’s a lot of broken minutes but a 3.622 GF/20 is impressive. Even the limited minutes with Joey Crabb (11) produced a goal.

For the second straight season MacArthur was inconsistent at best. He fell off in the second half just like the previous season, scoring only 3 goals in the last 27 games (much like two goals in the final 20 games from 2010-11). One could note the drop in assists totals as a direct reflection of the decreased scoring from Kulemin (23 less goals = a bunch of missing assists).

Leafs captain wasn’t as proficient at even strength, having scored seven goals on the power play. He partnered the most with Carl Gunnarsson upward of 800 even strength minutes, with neither contributing to each other’s goals. The appeared on the scoresheet together with both assists on a Clarke MacArthur power play goal. One would figure a top pairing on a team would share more points together.