The Toronto Maple Leafs blue-line is a huge source of strength for the team heading into the 2021 Season.
It’s been so long since anyone could say, with a straight face, that the strength of the Toronto Maple Leafs was their blue line, that I am sure, even know, people are scoffing while they read this.
But perception is not always reality, and in this case is sure isn’t. The Leafs blue-line isn’t just a strength of their team, it is one of the best in the NHL. Depending on a few factors, it could even prove to be the very best in the league.
The Leafs have assembled a great collection of puck moving defenseman who will start the plays, move the puck, and generally keep it out of the Leafs zone as much as possible. For the Leafs (and any team ran with intelligence) puck possession is the name of the game, and they’ve got just the squad to pull that off.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Blue Line
The Leafs strength comes from their high-end skill, which they can deploy across the board. The third pairing on almost every NHL team is practically interchangeable. The only time teams really get a huge contribution from their bottom pairing is when a rookie who is too good for such a role gets parked their due to his team having a Top Four that he can’t break into for whatever reason.
Travis Dermott has destroyed third pairing competition and even he isn’t even making a huge impact on games. The fact is, in the NHL, the bad and average players just aren’t that different from each other.
The Leafs strength here will be if Rasmus Sandin and Mikko Lehtonen show that they are as good as advertised. While by no means guaranteed, the Leafs will have a massive advantage if even one of those players starts to scratch the surface of his potential this season.
As for depth, I don’t think another team in the NHL could put out a fourth pairing of Zach Bogosian and Travis Dermott. Not that that will necessarily be the role of either player, but the point here is that the Leafs have four excellent bottom pairing options ( and dressing seven D so you can take advantage of Bogosian on the PK might be a good idea, and may even be likely).
If Rielly gets back to his game of two seasons ago, if Justin Holl is the same player he was last season, if Brodie and Muzzin remain as steady as they’ve been, and if Sandin or Lehtonen excel, the Leafs really will have the best blue line in the NHL.
Statistically, they have three of the best defensive defenseman from the entire NHL last in their top four (Muzzin, Holl, Brodie) and that is a huge advantage. An even bigger one, is that all three players are great puck movers. Throw in Rielly, Sandin and Lehtonen and the Leafs could have the most mobile, most talented blue-line the NHL has seen since the Predators’ peak.
Of course so much depends on a red wheelbarrow, and you can’t guarantee any of this will happen, but the fact that is at least a possibility, at this point, for the Toronto Maple Leafs to have the NHL’s best blue-line is good enough for me.