TORONTO, ON - MARCH 26: Ron Hainsey #2 of the Toronto Maple Leafs pauses during a break in play against the Buffalo Sabres during the first period at the Air Canada Centre on March 26, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs, like every team in the NHL, aren’t without some flaws.

When you look at the current edition of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ roster, there is a lot to like about it.

There’s a good balance of youth, experience, and veteran leadership that appears to be gelling well. With high expectations the Leafs can do something special this season, the team as constructed appears to have the pieces in place to achieve success.

However, the Leafs aren’t without their flaws, the most well-documented being their defensive core not being at the level some would expect it to be for Cup contention. Ron Hainsey was prominent on the Leafs’ blueline last year, but given his first season in Toronto was a mixed bag, his long-term outlook falls into question.

So what should the Leafs do with Hainsey in 2018-19? Let’s take a look.

Decent Offence, But Subpar Overall

If you look at Hainsey’s overall stat line, there were some obvious strong points and many glaring weaknesses in his game last year.

Offensively speaking, he had one of his best seasons in quite some time, finishing the year with 4 goals, 19 assists, and 23 points in 80 games. He also had a decent 38.4 SThr%, a 4.2 DPS, and a career-high 169 blocks.

Despite this decent season offensively, the underlying stats tell a more troubling story. His Corsi-for% was 47.0, was on the ice for 3.4 GA/60, committed 85 giveaways, had the most TOI average on the penalty kill (3:58), and allowed 6.4 GA/60 while on the penalty kill.

Additionally, he appeared to drag down his defensive partner for most of last season, Morgan Rielly. According to Natural Stat Trick, Rielly’s overall numbers improved without Hainsey, while the latter’s number’s dropped significantly when without Rielly.

It’s also worth noting that Hainsey’s overall numbers plummeted as the season progressed, as noted by Ian Tulloch of The Athletic. This may explain why Hainsey looked completely burnt out once the playoffs rolled around, which was likely caused from being overused on both the top pairing and the penalty kill.

Finally, the disparity between Rielly and Hainsey is best highlighted by this Performance Chart and this SKATR Chart. Seeing this makes Rielly’s 2017-18 season all the more impressive considering who he played with.

Clearly, Hainsey’s first season in Toronto can be best described as mediocre given the overall numbers. So what, then, should the Leafs do with him to get the most of his abilities heading into 2018-19?

What Should Change

Earlier this month during training camp, Rielly told Luke Fox of Sportsnet he was hoping to once again play alongside Hainsey this season. Considering the two have played together a lot so far this preseason as per Frozen Pool, he will likely get his wish.

Looking at Natural Stat Trick again, Rielly and Hainsey have actually played well together this preseason. While the sample size may be small, it’s still intriguing to look at nonetheless.

It seems fairly clear that Babcock trusts Hainsey a lot to play him alongside Rielly and handle the penalty kill duties. While I don’t expect much drastic change with his usage to start the season, I would like to see his TOIdecrease as the season progresses.

If you're hard matching 37-year-old Ron Hainsey to top lines while giving him tons of PK time, he's probably not going to be very effective after about December (which was the case last season) pic.twitter.com/0PAzjCyLZl — Ian Tulloch (@regressIan) September 10, 2018

As of right now, Hainsey appears to be fully recharged and with some renewed energy to start the new campaign. In order for that to last as long as possible, Hainsey will have to become a third pairing defender at some point this season.

This would allow players like Connor Carrick, Justin Holl, and Igor Ozhiganov a chance to get more minutes and present Babcock with more options for the blueline both this year and beyond. It would also give a guy like Travis Dermott an opportunity to land a bigger role as he seems to be a fixture in the Leafs’ long-term plans.

Plus, with only one year remaining on his contract as per CapFriendly, unless Leafs management thinks otherwise Hainsey appears unlikely to remain with the organization past the coming campaign.

The Leafs should slowly ease up Hainsey’s usage throughout the 2018-19 season if they want him to be as effective as he can be. The numbers prove Hainsey was overloaded last year, which impacted his efficiency as the year progressed.

With the number of players on the depth chart vying for a spot, combined with his age and contract status, it would be in the Leafs’ best interest to transition Hainsey from the top-pair to the third pair.

The last thing the Leafs need in the playoffs, should they make it, is another exhausted Hainsey when the games matter most.

Thanks for reading!

All stats unless otherwise noted are from Hockey-Reference.com.