Toronto Maple Leafs: Multiple 40 Point Defensemen
By Maaz Rajah
Toronto Maple Leafs have arguably the best forward core in the entire league. The team can forwards can flat out score, but what about the defenseman?
The Toronto Maple Leafs have an interesting defensive core to say the least. There are three sure-fire locks to be in the top four: Jake Gardiner, Morgan Rielly, and Nikita Zaitsev.
After that, they have Ron Hainsey, who is automatically slotted as a top four because of the lack of depth. Then, the bottom pairing is up in the air and could be comprised include any two of: Connor Carrick, Calle Rosen, Andreas Borgman, Travis Dermott, Martin Marincin and maybe even Timothy Liljegren (although I wouldn’t bet on it). But not all of these defensemen are going to put up points even with the forwards they get to play with.
40 Point Defensemen
Reaching 40 points as a defensemen in today’s NHL is an impressive feat to say the least. Last season only 23 defensemen reached this milestone (although 8 others were only a point short at 39). Of the 23, only one team had multiple defensemen accomplish this feat, the Columbus Blue Jackets with Seth Jones and rookie phenom Zach Werenski. The Leafs also had their own defenseman, Jake Gardiner, reach 40 this past season as well.
But now the question is; can the Leafs have more than one 40 point defenseman? Looking at this roster, there’s certainly a good chance that this season may give Toronto two or three elite scoring defenseman.
Lets take a look!