PITTSBURGH — Most of the Islanders’ statistics have gone down under first-year head coach Barry Trotz, which hasn’t been a problem because of how much winning they’ve done. So much so, they are on the verge of sweeping the Penguins in their first-round series if they can pick up a win in Game 4 on Tuesday night.
But there was one player whose stat line has improved dramatically, and who was as happy as his stone-cold demeanor could convey that Trotz brought with him a defense-first attitude that took the team from worst in the league in goals-against to first.
That would be defenseman Nick Leddy, who was coming off the worst plus-minus season in franchise history — and one of the worst in recent league history — before posting an even-rating this regular season for a team that finished second in the Metropolitan Division.
Leddy, renowned for his skating ability and offensive instincts, finished last year with a minus-42 rating, meaning he was on the ice for 42 more goals-against than he was goals-for. There have been only 156 individual seasons in NHL history in which a player has gone minus-40 or worse, and Leddy’s minus-42 was the worst since Rico Fata went minus-46 for the Penguins in 2003-04.
Of course, it’s a stat that has many flaws in evaluating individual performance. A lot of coaching staffs now track their own “analytics,” which can show which player or players made the mistake that led to a goal against. But boy, that number for Leddy was still unsightly.
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“The plus-minus, it’s a stat that shows some stuff, but at the same time, it’s five guys on the ice,” Trotz said Tuesday morning. “A lot of times when I go through chances, like anybody else, the analytics — we do our own analytics as coaches, and you go through the chances, and sometimes guys get a minus for a certain player’s mistake or read, or whatever, and all five guys get it.
“If you were to break it down from a coaching staff, you can figure out — and this is how we try to do it — where did it go south on that goal against? Was it one player, was it two players, was it our structure, what is our protocols? A lot of times you can go back to one or two players not doing their job. That’s where it breaks down. But everybody gets a minus, even though maybe four or five guys did their job.”
And yet it’s still clear that Leddy’s individual play has improved dramatically.
Under coach Doug Weight last season, the Islanders were scatterbrained defensively. Leddy played the most minutes of anyone on the team (22:25 per game) over his 80 games, and this while he was also matching up against the top opposition, playing the top power play, and being on the ice when his own net is empty in hopes of scoring a tying goal with the extra attacker. That can end up in a lot of goals-against.
Maybe more important, it also ended up in Leddy losing some confidence. He hardly had ample opportunity to execute an end-to-end rush that is one of the strengths of his skating ability, and when he spent entire shifts defending, it wore on him.
“It was probably very difficult year,” Trotz said. “We talked during the summer and during training camp. I always felt he was a really good defender. [I said,] ‘Don’t look at those numbers. We’re going to have a lot better numbers this year. You’re still going to get a lot of primary matchups.’ And he bought into that.”
And so Leddy ditched “the green jacket,” as the worst plus-minus in the league is referred to in homage to The Masters. And he had been a big part of the Islanders’ defensive turnaround.
“He defends harder than people probably think, especially around the cage, and in the corners, he can contain the best people in the league. He doesn’t get enough credit for being able to do that,” Trotz said.
“He’s been a steady veteran presence for us all year. He’s a little bit under the radar when it comes to the top defensemen in the league.”