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Toronto Maple Leafs Need a Total Fluke to Land an Elite Defenseman

By James Tanner

Morgan Rielly #44 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates with the puck against the Florida Panthers during first period action in Game Three of the Second Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the FLA Live Arena on May 7, 2023 in Sunrise, Florida. The Panthers defeated the Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
Morgan Rielly #44 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates with the puck against the Florida Panthers during first period action in Game Three of the Second Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the FLA Live Arena on May 7, 2023 in Sunrise, Florida. The Panthers defeated the Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs best defenseman is Morgan Rielly.

Not only is Morgan Rielly the Toronto Maple Leafs best defenseman, but there isn’t even any competition for the title.

But worse, Rielly isn’t anywhere close to being an elite, no-doubt, number-one defenseman.

Sure, he’s a good top-pairing player, but he’s not even close to being in the top ten in the league, anymore.  Now, having one of those isn’t a prerequisite to winning, but it helps.

The Leafs blue-line is a major weakness, but it’s weakness is it’s averageness – the lack of elite skill is what really hurts.

This is because non-star players don’t have much of an effect on games.  Whether It’s Justin Holl or John Klingberg, Timothy Liljegren or Connor Timmins, if no one breaks out into star territory, they are all more or less the same.

Sure, there are slight differences, but nothing that will make or break the team.  What hurts is the lack of star players.

Several years ago, Muzzin, Brodie and Rielly were star players on the Leafs.  This year, only Rielly is.

Toronto Maple Leafs Need a Total Fluke to Land a Top Defenseman

The Leafs don’t appear to have a way to get themselves an elite defender.

Drafting at the top of the draft is the easiest way to get one, and that doesn’t look likely for a while.

Trading for one is possible, but they rarely change teams.  Dougie Hamilton has gone around the league quite a bit, and Erik Karlsson was just traded, but this is pretty rare.

A trade involving Willam Nylander might make sense for the right defenseman, but the return on Alex DeBrincat suggests that isn’t even possible.

The only other way is to fluke out.

Trade for a guy who instantly hits his ceiling in a best-case-scenario like the Rangers did with Adam Fox, or have a lowly drafted player turn into a superstar a la Duncan Keith, Kris Letang, P.K Subban or Shea Weber.

This is the Toronto Maple Leafs most likely path to getting a top defender, but there just isn’t anyone on the radar who looks like it’s going to happen for them.

Topi Niemela, Timothy Liljegren or Mikko Kokkanen could, I suppose, have a shot at hitting extremely high-highs, but any of those players turning into superstars would be EXTREMELY surprising at this point.

But stranger things have happened.

The fact is, the Toronto Maple Leafs have very good goalies and elite forwards.  That should be enough to make them a contender.   Having an elite defenseman would ensure it, but right now their best bet is that Morgan Rielly continues his playoff renaissance and gets back to the heights of 2018.

Next. The Worst Trade Rumour of the Summer Is Upon Us. dark

That, however, is a very long-shot indeed.

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