McCabe-Brodie shutdown pair Leafs can rely on in playoffs

Jake McCabe and T.J. Brodie have become an indispensable pairing on the Maple Leafs blue line, providing a constantly solid platform on offence and defence rarely seen during Toronto's big-four era.

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- So as the season goes on, you know, Sheldon Keefe, he's going to continue going with his line juggling. We know that he's been doing this 11 forward, 7 defensemen type of format, trying to figure out who the 12 forwards and the 6 defensemen are going to be come playoff time.

One pair that I hope stays forever and ever is Jake McCabe and TJ Brodie. I love them together. I love the pairing. They can both skate well. They can both move the puck. They both complement each other in the sense where TJ Brodie is more of a stick first defensemen, whereas Jake McCabe is more of a physical, push his body, spins player, pins players against the boards.

They just work so well together, especially when it comes to their contributions on offense as well. You know, TJ Brodie can make some great first passes out of the zone, handles the puck very well with the pressure. And then Jake McCabe is really good offensively as well, charging into the offensive zone, being net front sometimes, always has his head up and looking for shots, will send pucks into lanes, and you know, looking for traffic and deflections.

So like, when it comes down to a legitimate shutdown pairing, which I think for the most part, we like to say, oh yeah, that one time when Reilly was with this person, and when Brodie was this person, that's our shutdown pair in theory. But when Jake Muzzin was around, and Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl were getting a lot of the defensive responsibility-- defensive assignments.

Sometimes even Jake Muzzin and TJ Brodie, we get-- we get those assignments. But we never had a concrete "you are the shutdown pair." You are the pair that will likely play like 30 minutes and in a tough playoff game.

And I think the least habit now. I think McCabe and Brodie can be a pairing that Sheldon Keefe can really lay into and really, really rely on when those games get heavy. So I hope that's a pair that Sheldon Keefe continues to run with, because I love what they've done so far.