During the past season, one of the main struggles of the Toronto Maple Leafs was their play by their defensemen. Not only did the Maple Leafs defense allow the second-most goals in the league, they also gave up the most shots as well, which are both a recipe for disaster. On top of that, the Leafs blue line collectively produced just 132 total points as a group, which ranked them 24th in the NHL during the 2025-26 season. So in other words, they weren’t getting it done at both ends of the ice.
Nevertheless, Toronto could find the ideal solution soon in free agency, which is set to begin in another five weeks time. With a fair number of top defensemen available in the projected market, we will take a look at the top two players that the Maple Leafs should pursue this offseason.
Rasmus Andersson
Rasmus Andersson was actually a Maple Leafs trade target from this past season before he ended up going to the Vegas Golden Knights. Andersson has the ability to provide a solid blend of offense and defense in his game. On offense, the 29-year-old defenseman is capable of running a power play while averaging double digits in goals and 35+ points per season. On defense, Andersson may not be the typical bruising shutdown defender, but he makes up for it with his strong positioning, stickwork and puck-moving skills.
This past season, he amassed a career-high 17 goals, along with 30 assists for 47 points in 81 total games played split between the Calgary Flames and Golden Knights. During the playoffs for Vegas, Andersson has added another five assists in 15 games of action while playing in all situations. Moreover, he can slot in easily anywhere on a team’s top four on the blue line without missing a beat.
As a result, whether the Leafs ended up moving on from Morgan Rielly or not, Toronto needs more defensemen in the mold of Andersson that could contribute effectively both offensively and defensively going forward. However, as one of the top free agent defenders available, he likely won’t come cheap.
Darren Raddysh
As a Toronto native, Darren Raddysh would want all the opportunity to play in front of his home crowd if he ever got the chance. He certainly has that opportunity now as he enters the upcoming free agency coming off his best season ever in his NHL career. With his teammate and stud defenseman Victor Hedman befallen with injury woes and mental health for much of the past year, Raddysh rose to the occasion for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The 30-year-old defender recorded a whopping 22 goals and 48 assists for 70 points in 72 games played, so he was practically generating offense at a point-per-game pace. More importantly, 26 of those points came with the man advantage, showing that he could be a dominant force quarterbacking a power play. At the same time, Raddysh averaged close to 23 minutes of ice time per night, which was the most in his five-year NHL career.
In addition, the 30-year-old sported a sparkling 57% CF%, 57% expected goals rate and 57% scoring chances rate in 5-on-5 situations, tilting the ice in their favour whenever he was in action. Those numbers easily would have been tops on the Maple Leafs squad from last season. As a result, if Toronto wants the best bang for their buck, capitalizing on a breakthrough season by Raddysh and bringing him home is the path to pursue.
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