Earlier this week, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed European free agent defensemen, Mikko Lehtonen to a one-year deal.
With the left-handed Lehtonen in the fold, that leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs organization with an overabundance of left-handed defensemen.
They have seven lefties compared to two righties set to compete for an NHL roster position.
As a result, many have been warming up the idea of trading one of the left-handed defensemen or placing a lefty on the right side. I personally lean towards the ladder option.
However, to break this down, let’s look at each of the nine possible defensemen that may make up the Leafs roster next season, and what position we should expect them to be in.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blue-Line
Morgan Rielly
The first and longest-tenured Leaf, Morgan Rielly has been a key piece of this organization on the ice and in the locker room.
Rielly is easily among the best offensive defensemen in the entire league, and lies in the top 5 at influencing offense of all of the defensemen in the NHL.
I personally could see a world where Rielly is traded for a pristine right-defensemen such as Colton Parayko and the Leafs benefit. However, the likelihood of a trade such as this happening is slim to none.
The fairly clear-cut position Rielly will find himself in will be in the top-4 of the Leafs backend on the left-side.
Jake Muzzin
Jake Muzzin is another lock on this team, especially since the team only recently signed him to a multi-year deal. Muzzin has been an especially effective player with whomever he is put with, as it is fairly clear he will be on the left-side in the top-4 again.
Travis Dermott
Travis Dermott for me is another absolute lock on this team and I would never think about trading such a valuable player.
Dermott has consistently been able to be one of the best play-drivers both offensively and defensively and to trade him would be a massive mistake.
The first reason is, Dermott is one of the few players who can drive play both defensively and offensively on the team, and the second is his value wouldn’t be very high on the trade market because he does not produce a lot of points, despite, points being meaningless for defensemen.
Dermott has shown a willingness and ability to play the right side which is another key factor we should consider. Which is where I do expect he will play to start the season off.
Rasmus Sandin
Rasmus Sandin is a young defenseman that has the potential to be a really special player.
Everyone is, rightfully so, very excited about his future. Sandin played a fairly large number of games this season and did decent in them, but for a teenager, I would consider his play satisfying overall.
Most players who come in the NHL at such a young age don’t perform as well as he has. It is obvious he has a lot to improve, but I don’t see a situation where he doesn’t make this team next season.
Based on Sandin’s strong mobility and willingness to play the right side, I do expect he is a likely candidate to be placed on the right-side, most likely on the bottom pair to start the season.
Mikko Lehtonen
The newest addition to the roster is the highly sought after European defensemen, Lehtonen.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were in competition with many other teams for him, and they happily landed his services. Which is why it is almost certain he will get a shot at the big club.
It is clear that he probably will not be a top-4 defenseman, which makes sense since he is coming over to the NHL at 26 years-old. Lehtonen does, however, have a shot at being an effective 5th defenseman who plays penalty-kill and bottom pair minutes based on his track record.
It has been widely noted that he is a left-handed defenseman, and he has said he is willing to play the right side, as he even played an entire season in Sweden on the right side.
But that being said his coach had mentioned it may be better for him to play left because it will allow him to make more plays with confidence.
My expectation is he finds himself on the bottom pair to start off the season, most likely on the left side. His ability seems as if he can take over Barrie’s 5v5 role fairly easily by having a similar impact.
Calle Rosen
Rosen was only recently re-acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in a low-cost deal which helped add some needed depth due to injuries.
I believe that it’s unlikely he finds a roster spot unless he marvelously impresses somehow, but it seems as if there’s simply no room for him unless injuries were to happen.
Rosen seems like a fine call-up player to have and seems suitable for a bottom pair role, but I doubt we see him in the starting lineup. He probably plays games for the Marlies for the majority of the season unless he is claimed on waivers which is a possibility.
Martin Marincin
Marincin who is everyone’s absolute favorite defenseman will likely find himself in the same spot as he was this previous season, as an AHL call-up option or a seventh defenseman.
I don’t see how the situation with Marincin would be any different from the previous few seasons. Marincin seems to be great for the role he has been placed in.
Justin Holl
Justin Holl makes up the first of the few right defensemen on the list. Holl’s last season proved to the coaching staff and Kyle Dubas why he deserves a full-time role in the NHL and why he is a quality #4 level defensemen who can play a significant amount of minutes at 5v5 and penalty-kill.
It is fairly clear that Holl will be in the lineup again with the lack of right defense on the roster and his quality play against top-competition with Jake Muzzin.
I can’t say for sure if he finds himself paired with Muzzin again or if Keefe switches things up as he has shown the willingness to do so, but Holl will be in the top-4 next season unless something big happens.
Timothy Liljegren
Timothy Liljegren is easily the most fascinating of the defensemen in terms of where he will end up.
With the clear aspect that he was the worst in the NHL among every other defenseman on the roster, it makes things very interesting.
Now obviously the fact that he didn’t play well in the NHL comes with plenty of mercy because he just turned 21 which is still very young. Especially if you take in the perspective that a superstar defensemen such as Calle Makar only made the NHL full-time at age 21.
If Liljegren were to be the seventh defensemen it would likely only hurt his development so it may be fair that he finds himself in the AHL until later on in the season when the staff notices a clear development in his game.
Final Thoughts
The situation with the makeup of the defensemen is mostly based on the fact that management has accumulated plenty of effective depth options to make-up the roster.
The situation should not be labeled as something negative because it is always positive to have lots of depth, as we have seen that injuries happen often and it encourages competition and work ethic within the organization.
Now, all of these player’s situations ought to change if something drastic occurs such as a big trade or a free agent signing but as of the current point in time, this is where I expect the players to stand.
Muzzin-Holl
Rielly-Dermott
Sandin-Lehtonen
Marincin (7th)
Rosen-Liljegren (AHL)
The Toronto Maple Leafs defensive core doesn’t look as bad as many may point to.
As long as the young players continue to show progress towards their potential this top-6 defensive group is not a pushover. In fact, it reminds me of the quality of those such as Pittsburgh or Washington when those teams won cups recently.