Defensemen
The Leafs defensive group saw many changes and I feel is raited relatively fair all things considered.
Morgan Rielly - 88
Morgan Rielly should not be a “two-way defenseman” at all and should be an “offensive defenseman”. His rating likely also lowers if his defensive category gets lowered so I feel an appropriate overall is about 86.
Timothy Liljegren - 84
This seems fair if not a little high, he has shown he can play in a top-four role quite well but the sample size is not large. An 84 is good but an 83 would have been my guess for his overall.
Chris Tanev - 84
An 84 seems fair given he is one of the league’s better shutdown defenders. I would probably bump his up by one to an 85 but an 84 is not bad for a stay-at-home defender.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - 84
This rating seems a little high given his struggles in roles higher up the lineup and he is on the wrong side of 30. I would probably put him at an 82 as he seems to fit best in a number four to six role.
Jake McCabe - 83
An 83 is probably a little low for McCabe and I would probably bump him up to an 84 or an 85 at most. He has good physicality and has shown an ability to play a defensively-minded two-way style in a legitimate top-four role.
Jani Hakanpaa - 81
After a loong summer of "will they, won't they?" the Leafs officially signed Hakanpaa to a contract a few weeks ago. He is an almost exclusive shut-down third-pair defenseman and a penalty kill specialist. An 81 seems okay but an 80 would also do just fine given he has very little to give on the offensive side of the game.
Conor Timmins - 80
An 80 is not bad for Timmins but may even be a little high. For my money he has shown an ability to play a puck-moving third-pair role well but has mainly been utilized as a seventh defender. For that reason, I lean more towards 79 or 78.
Simon Benoit - 79
Benoit has shown himself to be an admirable third-pair physical defensive defender. I think a 79 is good for that role, no real complaints.