Toronto Maple Leafs: Defensive Additions Lead to Big Questions

The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a couple of additions to their defense in free agency so far, but they lead to more questions than answers.

While adding Victor Mete and Jordie Benn certainly improves the Toronto Maple Leafs defensive depth, their role next season is hard to define.

After all, adding them to a group that already includes Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, T.J. Brodie, Timothy Liljegren, Mark Giordano, Justin Holl and (with any luck) Rasmus Sandin gives the team nine NHL-capable defensemen.

That is perhaps a little too much depth, even if the latest additions have come incredibly cheap, both Benn and Mete inking deals at a league-minimum salary.

Can the Toronto Maple Leafs Fit Everyone Already Here?

The obvious fix for the Toronto Maple Leafs is to trade one of the nine defensemen currently on their roster with the obvious candidates being Jake Muzzin or Justin Holl.

Of course, the signings they’ve made might also suggest that perhaps Kyle Dubas is building some degree of back-up plan if the Leafs lose Rasmus Sandin this summer.

Fact is that a 34 year-old Jordie Benn is a depth signing at best and one that, given his league minimum salary, is able to be buried in the minors offering the Marlies some veteran leadership. Likewise, Victor Mete as a 24 year-old on a league minimum has plenty of untapped potential.

Both have played left and right side of defense on their previous teams, so their versatility certainly brings plenty to the Toronto Maple Leafs line-up.

The concern is though that Kyle Dubas is simply stock-piling NHL-capable defensemen without a clear-cut method to his madness, after all the Toronto Maple Leafs have seldom opted towards a seven defenseman line-up.

It’s all well and good for the team to have options available in case of injury or some more experienced options available for the Toronto Marlies, but there comes a time where it might impact others’ development.

Looking to the possible Toronto Marlies line-up, there’s at least two spots taken by the likes of Jordie Benn and Carl Dahlstrom; both of whom have realistically reached their full potential.

Add Victor Mete and Mac Hollowell into the equation and you’ve got four players taking up valuable ice-time for other prospects to develop in.

It all screams to me that the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the cusp of announcing a trade for one of Sandin, Holl or Muzzin or are genuinely fearful of Sandin not inking a new deal.

There are plenty of questions that still remain unanswered; the depth on defense is great – to have super low-cost NHL-ready guys ready to be called-up is a very safe spot to be in. Now all that’s needed is some answers on the starting six!