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).