A Profile of Every New Toronto Maple Leafs Player Part 2 – Defense
The Toronto Maple Leafs have seen over fifteen new players join the organization since the offseason began, take a look at how the new blueliners will fit in.
When the season ended, the Leafs defense was considered the weak link of the team. Even Eugene Melnyk, owner of the Ottawa Senators, piled on by saying “Mistakes were made and somebody forgot about defense” referring to the Toronto Maple Leafs rebuild.
Melnyk’s General Manager, Pierre Dorion, promptly acquired two of the most openly criticized Leafs defenders in Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev. Apparently, the head doesn’t know what the tail is doing in Ottawa.
Aside from Hainsey and Zaitsev, the Toronto Maple Leafs also allowed the expiration of Jake Gardiner’s and Igor Ozhiganov’s contracts, leaving four holes in the lineup to fill.
A retool of the team’s salary structure and defensive roster was in order, and the organization delivered. A blockbuster trade with Colorado serves as the highlight of an offseason that has brought a collection of new defenders to the Leafs.
We’ll detail the new look of the Toronto Maple Leafs defense and where each new player should slot into the organizational depth chart (Part 1 of this series profiles the team’s new centres can be found here).
Tyson Barrie
Acquired from the Colorado Avalanche via trade
Age: 27
Shoots: Right
Tyson Barrie is best characterized as an offensive facilitator. He has fantastic instincts for a defenseman in joining the play up ice and uses his great vision to move the puck quickly out of the zone with the intent of creating offense.
His style of play fits very well with the offensively gifted Toronto Maple Leafs, which he addressed after the trade by saying, “If I can get these guys in scoring positions and jump up and follow the play and try to create some offence, that’s my game.”
Barrie’s closest comparable in the NHL may be his new teammate Morgan Rielly.
Barrie and Rielly are both smooth skating, offensive defensemen who excel on the power-play and have scored 65 points/82 games and 64 points/82 games respectively over the past two seasons.
The key difference between Rielly and Barrie is that Barrie shoots right-handed, something coach Mike Babcock has coveted in a top-pair defenseman for years.
For all the positive things there are to say about Barrie’s game and his fit with the Leafs, he does have some defensive shortcomings.
Barrie ranks as a below average defender at breakups/60 and percentage of allowed entries into the defensive zone and is trending downwards in those categories over the past few seasons.
He is also rarely physical in the defensive zone. Much like Rielly, Barrie’s best defense will be his ability to push the puck up ice and minimize defensive zone time.
Barrie will play in the top-four with the Leafs and should serve as a very strong power-play quarterback.
Cody Ceci
Acquired from Ottawa via trade
Age: 25
Shoots: Right
Cody Ceci is a polarizing player. As a physical 6’2” defenseman, Ceci has played over 23 minutes/game while chipping in 22 points/82 games over the past 3 seasons. He has great tools, but there are blemishes in his game.
Ceci’s defensive instincts are questionable and he can get caught puck watching at times rather than taking a man in the defensive zone.
Ceci’s on-ice metrics are also admittedly poor, but need to be taken with a grain of salt, or perhaps a pound.
Analytics are a useful indicator of a player’s ability, but Ceci’s unfair deployment as a top-pair defenseman on the worst team in the NHL largely nullifies on-ice metrics as being an accurate indicator of Ceci’s overall game.
On a more positive note, Ceci has shown the ability to jump up in the rush at times and has a booming shot from the point. His offensive gifts have not been entirely realized at the NHL level and provide room for growth.
The Leafs clearly saw something in Ceci’s game that prompted them to re-sign him at $4.5M next season instead of using that money towards another defenseman such as Jake Gardiner.
It was a gamble that fills an area of need for the Leafs, but the jury is still out on whether Ceci can be a capable top-four defenseman.
6th Defenseman Candidates
Ben Harpur – Acquired from the Ottawa Senator via trade – Age: 24
Ben Harpur was the secondary piece that came back to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the trade with the Ottawa Senators that also returned Cody Ceci. At 6’6” and 225 pounds, Harpur provides a physical presence and plays a simple game.
His skating and change of direction needs work and his offensive output has been negligible with only seven points in 103 NHL games. However, he does have room for growth at only 24 years old and has shown offensive ability in the OHL and AHL level.
Harpur will likely play a depth role on the 2019-20 Toronto Maple Leafs.
Kevin Gravel – Signed on July 1st – Age: 27
At 6’4”, 215 pounds Gravel provides a physical defensive presence while staying out of the penalty box, an underrated and valuable trait for a depth defenseman (Gravel only has 12 PIMS in 106 career games).
Over the past three seasons he has spent most of his time in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers.
Gravel could challenge for a defensive roster spot in Travis Dermott’s absence.
Rapid Fire:
Teemu Kivihalme – Signed out of Finland (Liiga) – Age: 24
Kivihalme finished with 30 points in 60 games in Finland’s top league last season. A former 5th round draft pick of the Nashville Predators, Kivihalme has NHL upside like international free agent signings Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman of years prior.
It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the North American style of play, as he will likely start the season with the AHL Toronto Marlies.
Joseph Duszak – Signed out of NCAA – Age: 21
Joseph Duszak was an offensive dynamo in the NCAA last year with 47 points in 37 games, though it was in the typically weak Atlantic division.
Duszak obviously has offensive upside, but his pinch-first mentality will need to be refined in his professional development. He will likely start the year with the Toronto Marlies.
Draft:
The Toronto Maple Leafs selected three defensemen in the 2019 NHL draft: Mikko Kokkonen (84th overall), Mike Koster (146th overall), and Kalle Loponen (204th overall). Kokkonen inspires a lot of intrigue for a third-round pick.
Kokkonen has been playing in Finland’s top league (Liiga) since he was 15 years old. This past season he set the scoring record for a U18 defender with 3 goals and 19 points in 56 games.
Many mock drafts slotted Kokkonen as a late 1st-2nd round pick, which makes him a great value pick in the late third round.
New Depth Chart:
Altogether, the Toronto Maple Leafs have added nine new defenders, four of which will likely factor into this year’s roster. Here is a look at what the Leafs depth chart could hypothetically look like on defense.
NHL Roster:
1st pair: Morgan Rielly – Tyson Barrie
2nd pair: Travis Dermott – Jake Muzzin
3rd pair: TBD – Cody Ceci
Depth: Ben Harpur, Martin Marincin, Kevin Gravel, Andreas Borgman
Unless a depth defender is able to separate themselves from the pack, the sixth defenseman role will likely be filled by committee based on the current roster makeup
Top 5 Prospects:
1 – Rasmus Sandin
2 – Timothy Liljegren
3 – Mac Hollowell
4 – Mikko Kokkonen
5 – Eemeli Rasanen
Next. A Profile of Every New Leaf Part 1 - Centres. dark
With multiple defensive prospects nearly ready to make the jump to the NHL, next year’s Toronto Maple Leafs could look extremely different on defense than they do today. Morgan Rielly is the only rostered defenseman with a contract extending past this season.
In part three of this series, we’ll take a look at the skilled wingers that the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to stockpile.