Dakota Joshua Honest and Forthcoming About Rough Start With Maple Leafs, Making Him Easy to Root For
Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Maple Leafs forward Dakota Joshua has addressed his slow start with the team after being acquired this summer, and isn’t making any excuses for his early shortcomings.
Through 12 games this season, you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger disappointment than newcomer Dakota Joshua on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ roster. Joshua is 2nd last among all Leafs players in +/- rating, currently a -5 on the year, with just 2 goals and 2 assists to show for his efforts thus far.
Dakota Joshua Trying to Contribute in Other Ways
While he does do his best to contribute in other ways, landing 39 hits and blocking 11 shots, averaging 12:07 in ice time per game, Joshua is underdelivering early on and really isn’t helping to replace much of the offense lost with the departure of Mitch Marner.
Nobody is expecting Joshua to be among the team leaders in points, but there’s certainly a happy medium between what we’re seeing now and the fantasy of a career year for the 29-year-old.
Joshua Knows He Needs to Find His Groove
Joshua himself knows that he has to do better. This week, he revealed as much, offering up the opinion that he can be a consistent contributor. He just doesn’t know how long it will take for him to get there with his new club.
“I feel like I can contribute night in and night out. But until it’s seen again, proven, then I don’t know. I don’t know what that looks like or what the time stamp is. It’s hard to really say.”
Joshua knows there are ups and downs throughout the course of an NHL season, and he was the first to admit that some nights are better than others.
“Some nights feel better than others, and that’s just way the game goes. Sometimes, things are going easy for you out there. It’s an easy flow. And then other times, it’s not. It’s more choppy, hard to get in the rhythm. But I definitely feel like, yeah, there’s still a lot more to go in my game.”
Constantly Changing Line Combinations a Factor
While not making excuses for his slow start, Joshua admitted that a part of the problem might be his constant rotating door of linemates. I think anyone can understand why the inability to build any organic chemistry might hurt his production.
“My game should be the same no matter who I’m playing with, but it does help when you have chemistry with the guys just the predictability of certain players and what they like to do, or where they like to be positioned. So, that can go a long way. But, once again, something that like takes time.”
Joshua is currently playing on the Leafs’ 3rd line with Nicolas Roy and Easton Cowan, but with the Leafs’ lineup still in flux, it’s tough to say exactly where he’ll settle. If he does continue to play with the young Cowan, the opportunity will be there to begin to produce a little more.
However, if he lands back on the 4th line at any point, these issues may persist with a drop in ice time.
Joshua does have a 15.4 shooting percentage this season, so perhaps the answer is just shooting more pucks. His career shooting percentage is also on the higher end, at 16.2%, so there is hope that he can begin to bury the biscuit and put his production issues behind him in relatively short order.
The Dearborn, Michigan native is only 1 season removed from an 18-goal, 32-point campaign with the Canucks in 2023-24. His honesty about his current situation makes him very easy to root for.
Previously on Maple Leafs Daily
