Not only are the Toronto Maple Leafs in desperate need of a number-one defenseman, but their entire team seems stale.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have clearly made a big mistake by "running it back" yet again, and they did not live up to the expectations for change that they set for themselves at the end of last season when they held their annual post-mortum.
The Leafs - recently ranked near the bottom of the league in a poll at the Athletic that had 40 NHL executives rate each teams management quality and performance - switched coaches and brought in a 34 year old defensive defenseman, but it wasn't nearly enough.
This team, as constructed, is flawed. I don't know if they've just been together too long without success or what the deal is, but there is no excitement, no spark, no feeling of the team being destined for great things.
The current version of the Leafs is a faceless, anonymous entity without personality. Their mangagement does not have a clear vision of what they want, and everyone knows that if this team doesn't make it to at least the Conference Finals this year, it will be blown up completely.
If there was a word that best descibed this season for the Leafs, I'd say that word is "purgatory."
All that can change, if the team is bold enough. If they recognize the problem that I have laid out here - and really, how could they not? - the only thing they can do is take a big swing for a defenseman that would have an instant impact.
What they need is someone who can come in and push Morgan Rielly to the second pairing, Chris Tanev into a more comfortable number-two role, and OEL down to the third pairing where he belongs.
The Leafs need to make a trade that has the impact of the Doug Gilmour, Mats Sundin and Dion Phaneuf trades (two of which went down mid-season).
The Leafs need to make a big change and they need to get a no-doubt high-end defenseman, so let's just assume that they are offereing a package of either William Nylander or Mitch Marner for every player listed here. (All stats naturalsttattrick.com and all cap info puckpedia.com).
Here is a list of their options. They are not listed in any kind of order, but the first three are serious suggetions, and the last page is full of guys who they should at least kick the tires on, but who are highly unlikely to be moved.