Joining the rush

The Toronto Maple Leafs are still trying to forge an identity, but one thing is becoming abundantly clear: If it's offence from the defence you're looking for, then they are your team.

Following Tuesday night's 5-3 loss to the Panthers in Florida, the Maple Leafs ranked fourth in terms of offence from defencemen with 86 points in 36 games. Amazingly, that's just three shy of the number they produced all of last season.

Only the Ottawa Senators, with 91 points, and Panthers and Vancouver Canucks with 88 each, have managed more points from their defence than Toronto.

It wouldn't be completely accurate to suggest the Leafs play an all-out high-risk, high-return style, but it's close. So on a night when defencemen made a few miscues that led to goals for the Panthers, it was notable that one defender - newcomer Cody Franson - had two assists in the contest. It was his second multi-point game this season.

"The coaches want us to be involved in the play," Franson said. "You look at the good offences in the league and they all include their defence. A lot of their offence comes from a defenceman being the fourth man on the rush."

Dion Phaneuf leads all Leafs defenders with five goals and 22 points while John-Michael Liles is next with four goals and 21 points.

There are going to be nights when Leafs defenceman will take a chance by joining the rush only to have it backfire on them. That's the nature of the beast. Not every decision to join the offence will be a good one. Hey, the Leafs are anything but boring.

For Franson, who has three goals and 10 points in 21 games (if he scored at that pace all season and played in all 82 games that's 12 goals and 39 points), the Leafs style suits his game perfectly. The 6-foot-5, 213-pound native of Salmon Arm, BC, possesses a hard slap shot and is an able skater.

"I've always picked my spots and tried to jump up into the play," Franson said. "They've given me more of a green light to do that here. In Nashville, it was very much a matter of being careful to pick your spots. You delayed a bit so that you were a safety valve first. It wasn't like they wanted you right up there in the rush. Here we try to push the pace of the game a little bit and try to take advantage of every opportunity that we can."

That doesn't mean the coaching staff will stand by idly and allow players to get caught up ice night after night if it's leading to goals against. It is one thing to take calculated chances and quite another to give games away by being utterly reckless.

"That's the thing; you have to be smart about it," Franson said. "It's not like we're playing a complete run-and-gun system. Although our coach wants us up in the play, you have to be smart about it and pick your spots. You have to know when you can go deep in the offensive zone and when you have to get out. There's a fine line between doing what they want and being too involved."

If you have seen Franson fire a slap shot from the point, then it's hard to imagine he's not a key figure on any team's first power play unit. He was as a junior with Vancouver of the Western Hockey League as well as with Milwaukee of the American Hockey League, but he hasn't been so fortunate in the NHL. With the Predators he had Shea Weber and Ryan Suter ahead of him and with the Leafs its Phaneuf and Liles.

Still, if the Leafs can somehow find a way to feather more passes to him for one-timers - the way Tomas Kaberle used to set up Bryan McCabe - his numbers would surely go up.

"We're kind of playing around with that a little bit more," Franson said. "I haven't gotten as many shots as I would like on the power play or in 5-on-5 situations. Usually if I can get five or six shots a game it should give our forwards a good chance at rebounds and loose pucks around the net. We're trying to figure out a way to generate more of a shot mentality to get ourselves some second chances."

With 22 shots in 21 games, Franson is way off his goal of 5-6 shots per game. Nevertheless, he is making an impact. And for what it's worth, he finds playing in the Eastern Conference significantly different from playing in the West.

"The West was very much a chess match, where here I'd say it's more of a skill game," Franson said. "I don't know if it was just the system our coach, Barry Trotz, had us playing which had us in tight games just about every night and you had to capitalize on the chances you got because you didn't get many. Here is seems like there are more offensive-minded teams."

He should know; he's playing for one.

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy will cover the Toronto Maple Leafs for sportsnet.ca for the 2011/12 season.