Toronto Maple Leafs Faltering, Jake Gardiner Shining in Advanced Stats

The Toronto Maple Leafs have face-planted to start the 2014-15 season despite an offseason of hope.

With seven points in their first eight games, the Leafs sit 14th overall in the Eastern Conference, just ahead of the perennially bottom-feeding/rebuilding Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes. 

Graig Abel/Getty Images

The situation came to a head Saturday night as the Leafs held a players-only meeting after a 4-1 loss at home to the Boston Bruins, according to TSN's Jonas Siegel. Shortly after, rookie defenseman Stuart Percy was demoted despite a strong start to the season that had spectators wondering where Jake Gardiner fits in the Toronto lineup.

Worst of all, the advanced stats reveal that the Maple Leafs deserve their fate in the early part of the season. Fifteen of the team's 19 qualifying skaters are below the 50 percent mark in Corsi For Percentage (CF%), and the team has posted the fifth-worst CF% in the NHL (tied with the Philadelphia Flyers) at 47 percent. 

These awful possession rates haven't been the result of bad luck. As a team, the Leafs boast a 99.08 percent PDO—the addition of shooting percentage and save percentage at even strength—which indicates that the Leafs have neither been punished by or benefited from any luck (for more on PDO, how it is calculated and how it may be understood, check this great article from The Score's Cam Charron).

Bleak.

Still, there is a glimmer of hope in Leafland that has gone largely untold—Gardiner's strong play.

Despite being buried on the third defensive pairing with Roman Polak and sitting only sixth in time on ice (TOI) among Toronto's defensemen, Gardiner has been a productive puck-possession defenseman on a team that continues to struggle with maintaining the puck.

Graig Abel/Getty Images

Gardiner currently sits fourth on the team in CF% with a 51.6 rating. He is the only Toronto defender on the plus side of the 50 percent mark. This mark is particularly impressive, as Gardiner has been plagued by some poor luck (94.5 percent PDO).

James Tanner at The Hockey Writers explains the utility of a defender like Gardiner in today's high-speed NHL: 

"

Players who skate fast and create offense are much more effective than defensive specialists. ... What these statistics show is that Jake Gardiner was the Leafs player last year who most drove possession. ... Guys like Keith Yandle, Eric Karlsson and Jake Gardiner, are actually far more valuable than defense-only players, despite their sometimes maddening defensive lapses.

"

With Stephane Robidas and Polak posting possession rates in the low 40 percent range and Gardiner's possession stats leading the Leafs' defense corps, the young defenseman's chances to play more meaningful five-on-five minutes rely on the advanced stats acumen of Leafs assistant general manager Kyle Dubas.

At the very least, as the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to sputter in the season's early going, an investment of trust (and ice time) in Jake Gardiner couldn't hurt.

What do you think, Leafs fans? Does Jake Gardiner deserve more ice time, or are the Toronto Maple Leafs better off trusting stay-at-home defenders like Robidas and Polak?

Advanced statistics courtesy of Puckalytics.