The Toronto Maple Leafs spent most of their summer fixing their blue-line.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have a decent enough blue-line when the new season starts, but despite all they did, they don't have an elite defenseman in the Makar/Fox/Heiskanen level and therefore will be lucky just to have a top 5-10 blue-line, despite their best efforts.
And while doing that, they ignored their biggest problem. Their, "Fatal Flaw," if you will.
They never score enough when the games count.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Keep Ignoring Their Fatal Flaw
For years and years the Leafs have approached their roster as if they have all the scoring they'd ever need and the only thing to do is get tougher, more grindery, harder to play against and better defensively.
This has been a problem for Lou Lamoriell, Kyle Dubas, and Brad Treliving.
Instead of doing the most obvious and easist thing to improve - which is to lean into what you are already good at - the Leafs revamp their team every March in order to be able to play "Playoff Hockey."
It never works, because what it does is alter the team's mindset and force them away from what works into a different style of play.
Last March they shot themselves in the foot by crippling their blue-line's abilty to make breakout passes when they loaded up with defenseman who couldn't move the puck. After Rielly, Timothy Liljegren, an average to good puck mover, was their only puck-mover.
They went on to score more than three goals just once in seven games, before losing, just like everyone expected them too.
This summer they did take steps to make their blue-line better at moving the puck, but their forwards are worse than when the season ended.
Tyler Bertuzzi is gone, and Nick Robertson is probably gone. The only incoming player of note is Easton Cowan who may or may not have an impact next season.
That means the Leafs are worse at scoring than they were when they failed to score against the Bruins.
The Leafs current bottom six looks like this today, assuming Max Domi is on the first line: McMann- Holmberg - Jarkrok followed by Dewar- Kampf -Reaves.
That is straight up garbage. That bottom six is not going to be capable of scoring enough to help the Leafs win.
Sure, they could switch Marner to centre and bring back Robertson, or they could swing for Patrik Laine - I really don't know what will happen. The only thing I do know is that if they enter the season with that bottom-six they will lose.
They have not yet adressed their biggest weakness - their fatal flaw. It remains to be seen if they will.