Toronto Maple Leafs: Five Trending Storylines From the Season So Far
Glaring Need For Defencemen
The Leafs have strong pieces on the blue line with Morgan Rielly, and Nikita Zaitsev as the top pairing. Jake Gardiner has been better since Babcock has arrived, especially as one of the team’s top possession players. There is not a big spotlight on him like in past years because Babcock allows him to play his game.
“He generates offence for us. He doesn’t spend a whole lot of time in his own zone and can play against good players,” said Babcock. “He’s getting better defensively every day and we think he’s an important part of our team.”
Gardiner is not going to be a physical shutdown defenceman, this is why he needs a partner that is going to support him in that aspect. Someone that can separate a player from the puck, make a strong breakout pass and play soundly in the defensive zone. Unfortunately, the Leafs do not have that player on the roster currently and have tried using Martin Marincin, Matt Hunwick, Connor Carrick, Roman Polak and Frankie Corrado (for one game) in that role.
At 22 years old Carrick is a player that still has time to turn his game around so it is too early to close the book on him. The other issue is that the Toronto Marlies do not have a player that is ready to step in and Brendan Shanahan has gone on record saying that they will not sacrifice the future for short-term gain.
What it will likely come down to is a trade for a young defenceman that can come in and provide stability without giving up too much in return.
Dougie Hamilton was a name that was floated around but those rumours got squashed quickly by former Leafs GM Brian Burke. Hamilton is the ideal defenceman that the Leafs would want, but those types of players are hard to acquire. All it takes though, is finding a situation where a team is weak, has a strong depth on defence, and needs to move one or two of them in order to improve offensively.
Three teams that come to mind are the Anaheim Ducks, Nashville Predators and the Minnesota Wild. The expansion draft will play a factor in any trade the Leafs make for a defensemen but there is no doubt that the team needs to be looking for help.
Andrew Nielsen and Travis Dermott are still in the beginning stages of their development so there is no way to tell when they will be ready for the NHL. The Leafs will need to continue to find defensemen in the draft and hope that they can hit a home run in the later rounds because this year’s draft class does not have a strong number of defensemen available.
What the Leafs need to do is be patient and wait for the right opportunity to fix their blue line, so unfortunately, that means putting up with players that may not be good enough for the role that they are in.