Who’s Next Up On the Blue Line for the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Heading into the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs already have injury issues that will affect their blue line pairings on opening night.

Indeed right now, the Toronto Maple Leafs will seemingly have to look to their depth players to fulfil certain roles heading into the season opener.

Though Jake Muzzin is expected to be good to go for the season start, he is dealing with a nagging concern. Timothy Liljegren meanwhile is ruled out until November with a sports hernia.

Add to that the fact that Rasmus Sandin has yet to sign a new deal and the Toronto Maple Leafs could be three down on opening night, depending on circumstances.

Depth Defensemen May Get Their Chances With the Toronto Maple Leafs

Perhaps Kyle Dubas knew that the Toronto Maple Leafs would have these sorts of issues when he added Jordie Benn and Victor Mete as depth players with NHL experience this summer.

They certainly appear to be better options than having to roll a trio of Carl Dahlstrom, Filip Kral or Mac Hollowell immediately in the NHL.

This isn’t of course to say that Dahlstrom, Kral or Hollowell don’t deserve their chance on the Toronto Maple Leafs roster; it just speaks to not promoting three guys together and dealing with the imbalance of experience as a result.

Jordie Benn certainly looks likely to start the season in the Toronto Maple Leafs line-up. He’s not going to be a guy tallying too many points, but he certainly should be able to bring some physicality to the blue line.

Last year with the Minnesota Wild; he put up some strong totals in terms of shot blocks and hits and generally offered a positive contribution to their defensive game.

The flaws in his game at this point are his speed; namely if he does give up the puck, he is going to struggle to hustle back too hard.

However, assuming he isn’t expected to fulfil a top-four role, Benn should be a decent depth fit with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season; they lack defensive defensemen after all.

Victor Mete likely has the inside track on the Marlies-developed prospects on pure account of having more NHL experience. He is somewhat of a restoration project for the Leafs though in the sense that he lost his way from his early days as a reasonably touted Canadiens prospect.

He is more the modern defensemen that puts as much energy into getting forward as his defensive game and rightly may be seen as a riskier option than Benn.

Expect him to get a look though if the situation surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs blue line remains the same; any good showing though might very well see a waiver claim when the nominal pairings are all ready to go.

Of course, with training camp giving everyone equal opportunity, don’t rule out the likes of Hollowell and Kral – they have put the time and reps in with the Marlies and will want to take that next step.

The Maple Leafs allowed Joseph Duszak to depart this summer despite impressive showings in the AHL and will be very aware that limited paths to the NHL might see others wanting away; it’s a very challenging balancing act.