Upon Further Review: Why is Tyler Bertuzzi in Sheldon Keefe’s doghouse?

If the theme of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ offseason acquisitions (namely Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, and Ryan Reaves) was “they got that dawg in ‘em,” the theme of the first 10 games of the season would be that Sheldon Keefe has agreed, because at varying points they’ve all found themselves in the doghouse.

On Tuesday night against the LA Kings Bertuzzi played only a few moments of the third period on the heels of another bad penalty (he’s taken a team-worst six minors) and some questionable defensive coverage. On Thursday night, he played his last shift of the second period with 8:10 remaining, took a couple shifts with the fourth line in the third (and one with his usual linemates), and Keefe had seen enough with 8:30 left in that period.

Bertuzzi's ice time over the past four games has gone:

10/26 at DAL: 18:03

10/28 at NSH: 16:06

10/31 vs. LAK: 14:00

11/02 at BOS: 11:32

So, why exactly? That’s what I set out to discover.

One of the issues looks similar to newly acquired winger Max Domi in that, in the interest of creating offence, Domi and Bertuzzi both seem to be forcing plays into traffic and coverage, hoping to squeak something through to create a chance. The problem with playing that way is that forced passes often don’t get through, and so instead of your team enjoying sustained o-zone time (which has value all its own), you end up tracking back on D.

Sometimes offence takes patience, and when you’re trying to show out as an offensive player in a new place, that can be tough to accept.

With the forced plays – and resulting turnovers – you’ll have to play more defence. There, you also have to remain patient and accept that you’re defending. You have to find your guy and execute your role in helping your team get the puck back before you can get another crack at offence.

To my eye, Bertuzzi has some William Nylander-itis (minus the all-world abilities), in that he likes to fly the zone early – sometimes before his team has clean possession. That means not only is he unavailable as a breakout option, but he’s often left standing still (to stay onside) at the far blue line, chasing dumps from a stopped position rather than with the momentum that comes from supporting breakouts.

Here was Keefe, on why Bertuzzi has been benched: “He just needs to simplify his game. Today, we had a very simple plan. He failed to execute that, so other guys had to take his place.”

I’d pay close attention to the verbiage “very simple plan” there.

Let’s take a look at some of what I’m talking about, namely playing good defence in the D-zone and then at those forced offensive plays.

The first period of Thursday's game ended with the Leafs down 1-0 off a Brandon Carlo-to-Pavel Zacha hook-up, on which Bertuzzi is flat-out bad. Here’s the goal, where Bertuzzi is the left winger responsible for the net-front (and he starts there in this clip) until the puck moves out high, in which case he’s responsible for his D-man.

This is really simple coverage, but the Leafs are guilty of puck-staring (this is typically kryptonite to the otherwise excellent Nylander/Tavares duo). Morgan Rielly’s coverage has brought him out high to front Mason Lohrei, so the Leafs forwards have to adjust. But they’re all puck-obsessed here. Bertuzzi should have Carlo (#25), as at least three players could have the shot lane before it would be his responsibility.

But he wants to get in that same lane, too, rather than just staying between his check and the net. You can see he hasn’t shifted, below:

And Bertuzzi's just so passive once Carlo does get the puck. Who else does he think would be responsible for that guy, if not him? So he comes back with little shuffle pushes, neither going at Carlo, nor taking away any passing lanes.

John Klingberg took the heat on this goal – he should probably tie up the goal scorer Zacha, eventually – but it’s not entirely clear whether he should take the unmarked Carlo by fronting the shot, or if he should clear the other net-front Bruin. This one wasn’t entirely on Klingberg, and I’d argue was mostly on the forwards who combined to cover zero players.

One of those frames looked an awful lot like a different one from the Kings game, the exact shift before Bertuzzi got benched in that game.

He’s on the right side of the ice in the frame below, and the Kings D up top is about to touch the puck. If the Kings player slides the puck to his partner – Bertuzzi’s guy – it turns into a clean in-zone breakaway against the Leafs. He doesn’t (nor does the rebound come to Bertuzzi’s guy), but a coach like Keefe wouldn’t miss seeing a blown coverage like that; they got lucky here and he’d know it.

Look out behind you here, 59:

But Keefe's “very simple game” comment, against a team like the Bruins, means it's probably the below play that irked him most. Patience with the puck is key; if there isn’t a play, don’t force one. You’d rather keep a good team defending and try to find your way to the inside by wearing them down.

Here’s a great example at the end of the first period of the Boston game where Bertuzzi tries to thread a pass through four Bruins, and the play immediately starts going the other way.

The Leafs were lucky it got whistled down for a high stick.

On the power play it’s rarely a good idea to try to beat someone 1-on-1. You’ve got a numbers advantage out there, so find it.

Another Bertuzzi turnover in the second period here:

And the most frustrating one of all – the one that takes place directly before Bertuzzi gets glued to the bench – is this next play.

Bertuzzi could easily get the puck deep in the Bruins' end and start an O-zone possession, but instead opts for a spin and blind-fire of a hope pass. It gets picked off and gives the puck back to a good opponent in a tie game.

I have been where Bertuzzi is, albeit not in the NHL. But I was an offensive player whose role it was to create for my team, and I had stretches where I was forcing it, and I hated my coaches' advice when it wasn’t working. HATED IT. Because it’s so predictable, right? “Keep it simple.” “Make the safe plays,” all that stuff. I was who I was (at the lower levels) because I took some risks and made some plays others couldn’t, and so to me, neutering that rendered me useless.

I imagine Bertuzzi doesn’t like the idea of becoming a dump-and-chase puppet either, but what you don’t realize (as I failed to realize as a player), was that there’s a happy medium. Your coach wants you to think of your risk acceptance as something on a slidebar, not a light switch.

But, you have to keep your coach happy, so I’d go out there and do things like he asked, which at times bordered on obnoxious because of that “light switch” mindset. I toggled my risk acceptance to OFF.

“Keep it simple?” OK, how about instead of making a play on one of my only shifts in the O-zone, I just smack it at the goalie, that’s simple right?

Look at this 1980s-style offensive play here.

To Bertuzzi’s credit, with limited ice in the third he threw at least three solid hits, got that shot off (not sure that’s a good thing, but hey it was a shot), and didn’t get himself in any further trouble.

In all, I doubt Bertuzzi is too deep in the doghouse. In the game against the Kings, he actually had more good moments than I realized watching it the first time, and same for the first period against the Bruins. He wasn’t awful.

But for his salary and role, the bar isn’t “not awful,” it’s “do those good things while also not turning pucks over and blowing D-zone coverages.”

The good is starting to come. He's been in front for more tipped pucks and he’s stripping some pucks on the back check, which helps Toronto's D out a ton.

Bertuzzi will have to “simplify” not by cutting out risk entirely, but by recalibrating the slidebar to only take risks when there’s well more than a 50 per cent chance the attempt works out. Right now it’s been too loose, with too much cheating and hope in his game.

If Bertuzzi's going to be a valuable contributor for the Leafs this season, it’s pretty clear where he can start to get better.