For years, we've talked about how the Toronto Maple Leafs need better defense, or better goaltending and I think we finally got our wish this offseason.
Although I don't love the dollars or term for some of the free agent signings this offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be much more improved defensively this campaign.
During Game 7 of the First Round against the Boston Bruins, as much as they didn't deliver offensively, it was a defensive mistake that cost the team, which shouldn't happen this year.
Morgan Rielly is back for another year, alongside Timothy Lilejgren, Jake McCabe and Simon Benoit, but the two biggest additions are Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Both are veteran defenseman who have a ton of experience, with recent playoff success that should hopefully continue in Toronto.
When we look back at the Leafs regular season last year, they won a lot of games, but they also had to outscore their way to the win column. What I mean by that is that this team had to win the 5-4, or 4-3 games instead of the 2-1 or 1-0 battles in order to get the victory. During the regular season, you can get away with that stuff, but you can't in the playoffs, which is where Ekman-Larsson and Tanev will strive.
Toronto Maple Leafs Defense Will Lead Them To Success Next Season
The Leafs finished ninth worst in the NHL in penalty-kill last year, however of the 16 teams who qualified for the playoffs, they were dead-last.
Having a deadly penalty-kill is one of the most important things in the playoffs, so even if you thought the Leafs choked last year, they truly didn't have a chance when the playoffs started.
However, that should change this year, as Ekman-Larsson and Tanev were both part of teams who were top-8 in penalty-kill. Tanev will play on the team's top penalty-kill unit, while Ekman-Larsson will be on the second-unit, which is huge. Pairing them alongside either Benoit, McCabe, Rielly or Liljegren will be much better than what they had last season.
Since Toronto has two inexperienced goaltenders, they will need to rely on their defense much more this year, with Tanev leading the way. As the most veteran defenseman on the roster, he's been a shot-blocking machine over the course of his career and he'll need to continue that in Toronto.
I still need to see a legitimate number-one defenseman on the roster before I call the Toronto Maple Leafs a true Stanley Cup contender next year, but their defense is much improved, which is a start. If Tanev can continue to block shots in the playoffs and they can find a timely goal by Auston Matthews in Game 7, then there's no reason to believe they can't make a run this year.