Maple Leafs Need to go All-In for a Defenseman
The Toronto Maple Leafs are an offensive juggernaut.
It’s only been two games, but you didn’t even need those two games to know it. All you had to do was ask yourself how many other teams in the NHL have a 20 goal scorer on the fourth line like the Toronto Maple Leafs do. How many other teams have interchangeable second/third lines that feature the equivalent of either Marleau/Kadri or JVR/Marner? On what other team is Tyler Bozak either the 7th or 8th best offensive player?
No team in hockey is keeping a Leivo or a Kapanen off their roster either. And as for defense, while it’s not exactly the team’s strong suit, offensively, few teams have either a Zaitsev or a Rielly as their third best puck moving defenseman.
All that to say that the 15 goals over the first two games helped, but you didn’t need it to say the Leafs have the best offense in the NHL.
So, If That’s True….
Which it is, then the Toronto Maple Leafs need to upgrade their defense so that they can be the best team in the NHL. The current team is, I think, pretty clearly the contenders I said all summer that they were. But they also have assets, cap-space and because of Nylander’s impending seven or eight million dollar raise, they’ll never be able to ice a roster this incredible again.
The math is pretty easy. JVR and Bozak are pending UFA’s, the team has all their own draft picks, they have have a team that is already very, very good.
It’s pretty obvious that if you added a top pairing defenseman to this lineup, that you’d have the best team in the NHL by a mile.
Given that the Leafs have Rosen, Borgman, Dermott and Liljegren, as well as future cap troubles, the best option is probably to trade for a veteran who can help in the short term.
Two Obvious Options
Chris Tanev and Marc-Edouard Vlasic are (along with the Coyotes Niklas Hjalmarsson) two of the NHL’s three best ‘defensive’ defenseman.
They limit shots against, while keeping the puck moving in the right direction. Unlike traditional stay-at-home defenseman, they don’t relying on hitting and shot-blocking to be effective.
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Either one could probably be had if the Leafs were willing to meet their price. And, since the pay-off is having the best team in the NHL, and since an opportunity like this is unlikely to ever come along again (because Nylander, Marner and Matthews are going to be so expensive) the Leafs need to make an all-in move to acquire the only thing they don’t have: an elite defensive defenseman.
Both the Sharks and Canucks should be looking to go younger and build for the future. The Toronto Maple Leafs are playing for right now. Add either Tanev or Vlasic to the Leafs and you eliminate the team’s only weakness.
The preference for me is Tanev because he’s a right handed shot, and is the ideal partner to unleash Morgan Rielly’s offensive game, but the downside is that he’s never played more than 70 games. Still, I’d gamble on the health issues because he’s only 27 and doesn’t appear to have anything chronically wrong with him.
Next: Leafs Could Also Go For Trouba
Chris Tanev (or Vlasic) would make the Leafs the best team in the NHL by eliminating their only weakness.