Nicolas Roy's performance with the Colorado Avalanche raises questions about his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, particularly regarding defensive play. Fans are discussing how his current stats contrast sharply with his previous role in Toronto.
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Maple Leafs' Nicolas Roy stat paints Craig Berube in negative light originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Toronto Maple Leafs fans who can stomach watching the NHL playoffs are probably wondering where this Colorado Avalanche version of Nicolas Roy was when he was in Toronto.
The answer is that he was probably in the defensive zone.
It's a social media discussion ongoing among Leafs fans at the moment, and the stats are pretty jarring.
Roy got, by far, the fewest amount of offensive zone shift starts of his career this season.
Clearly, Roy has offensive talent, but Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube used him elsewhere:
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It's worth acknowledging that yes, to some extent, the zone a player starts in depends a lot on how a whole team's lineup shakes out. If he's a gifted offensive player but also a better defender than a couple of the other centers, than maybe that would explain things.
But it's still pretty drastic to see that chart and see how Roy's Toronto usage has no alignment with the rest of his career.
Nicolas Roy's current statistics with the Colorado Avalanche show significant improvement compared to his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, particularly in defensive metrics.
Fans are questioning where Roy's strong performance was during his time with the Maple Leafs, as his current success seems to contrast with his previous contributions.
Roy's impressive defensive play with the Avalanche raises concerns about Craig Berube's coaching strategies during Roy's tenure with the Maple Leafs, suggesting a negative light on Berube's effectiveness.
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Maybe there was a part of Berube that felt he was onto something, but in the end, it didn't work out, and Roy was quickly shipped back out of town.
Now, as if Maple Leafs fans aren't annoyed enough about missing the playoffs, they've got to watch Roy do a bunch of good things for the powerful Avalanche. That's probably not a particularly enjoyable experience.