Can Travis Dermott Be the Toronto Maple Leafs Duncan Keith?
By James Tanner
The Toronto Maple Leafs would like to become the next Penguins or Blackhawks.
About a decade ago, much like the current Toronto Maple Leafs, both of those teams lucked into some amazing high-end draft picks. The Hawks picked up Kane and Toews, and then had unheralded second-round pick Duncan Keith somehow become a Hall of Fame defenseman. They had an elite an defensive player (Marian Hossa) and an alright goalie. They then went on to win three Stanley Cups.
The Penguins picked up Crosby and Malkin, and then had unheralded third-round pick Kris Letang somehow become a Hall of Fame defenseman. They had an elite defensive player (Jordan Staal) and an alright goalie. They too won three Stanley Cups.
The Maple Leafs lucked into Matthews, Nylander and Marner. They’ve got their Staal/Hossa in the defensively elite Leo Komarov and they also have an alright goalie. If they want to win three Stanley Cups (or even just one) they are going to need a Hall of Fame defenseman.
Morgan Rielly can be their Seabrook. And Maybe Timothy Liljegren can be their HOF dman, but the timing isn’t lining up for that, as they say he’s not yet ready. The player who could emerge as the future of the Leafs blue-line is second-round pick Travis Dermott.
Travis Dermott
Selected in the second round, 34th overall, Travis Dermott appears to at least have the potential to be the Toronto Maple Leafs answer to Letang or Keith (or Subban or Weber) in that he’s looking to morph from a first-round after-thought into a superstar defenseman. A lot of people don’t think he has the offensive upside to be that kind of player, but no one thought Duncan Keith did either. Sometimes it’s just about being in the right position at the right time.
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The left-handed shooting Dermott is 20 years old and about to begin his third post-draft season. By all accounts he’s developed even better than the Leafs have hoped. He’s got offensive upside, can move the puck and isn’t terrible without it.
The only thing stopping him from taking a spot in Toronto’s top four right now is that he’s a lefty, just like Gardiner and Rielly. The Leafs are going to use Hainsey on the right side for now, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see either Rielly or Gardiner moved to their off-side in order to accommodate Dermott, because Hainsey is going to be a disaster.
Regardless of where he ends up eventually, Dermott should make his NHL debut this October on the Leafs bottom pairing. Should an injury befall one of the Leafs top two left-shooting dmen, you could see a situation where Dermott is suddenly playing 20 minutes and getting on the PP. He’s got the potential, he’s a good skater, and he doesn’t seem to have the defensive problems that seem to haunt high-end offensive guys.
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Asking Dermott to be the next Letang or Keith is patently ridiculous. He will develop into whatever he develops into, and literally no one is saying he has that kind of potential. All I am saying here is that the symmetry and timing of the Leafs now vs the Pens and Hawks is interesting, and that Dermott fits that role of a home-grown defenseman no one saw being so good.