Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Trade Offense For Defense

If the Toronto Maple Leafs learned anything from the Vegas Golden Knights Stanley Cup victory, it’s that they need to trade some of their offensive talent for defense.

If you compared the Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs based off talent alone, the Leafs would be better, but that’s not what wins championships.

In fact, it’s got way more to do with coaching, goaltending and defense.

As a result, the Leafs need to learn a valuable lesson from what the Knights did this year.

Despite having zero 30-goal scorers and nobody to reach 70 points this year, the Knights finished the season with 111 points, winning the Pacific Division. Led by Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore, Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb, the Knights defense stepped up all season and was tough to play against.

Here’s the thing about defense versus offense. It’s way easier to stop the puck from going in, then it is to score. Hard work and a great system is what makes a good defense, while you could have 100 scoring chances and not bury.

It’s the reason why the saying “defense wins championships” has been a common theme in professional sports for the past 100 years because every year it’s true. However, for some reason the Leafs still haven’t figured out this message and will never win a Stanley Cup if they focus solely on offense.

Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade Two Forwards For Defense or Goaltending

I know that the Florida Panthers had two 40-goal scorers, but it wasn’t their offense that helped guide them to the Stanley Cup Finals. Instead, it was their goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who stood on his head for three rounds, helping them win one-goal games before finally coming back to life in the Finals.

Even with two 40-goal scorers, the Panthers were barely a playoff team. They made the playoffs on the last day and went on a magical run. As a result, high-flying offense doesn’t win the playoffs and Toronto should change their focus.

Would you rather have someone like Mitch Marner or Connor Hellebuyck?

Personally, I’d rather have Hellebuyck because the goaltender can make way more of a difference than Marner and as shown in the playoffs for the past seven years, it’s not like Marner is guiding his team to victory every night.

Toronto hasn’t had a true number-one defenseman in 20 years and that’s what they need to acquire. The only untouchable person on the Leafs should be Auston Matthews, so whether that means trading William Nylander, John Tavares or Marner, so be it. If they can move one of those players, free up a lot of cap-space and acquire a number-one goaltender and a number-one defenseman like Alex Pietrangelo, they will be in a much better spot.

Offensive superstars can win you games in December, but it’s the hard-nosed tough defenseman/goaltenders that steal you games in the playoffs. If Brad Treliving decides to run this team back and doesn’t change a thing, I don’t want to be a fan of this team anymore.

It’s been a pathetic waste of time and the Toronto Maple Leafs need to finally realize that their currently philosophy isn’t working, but fortunately they have the assets to change it.