What will Toronto do about it's defense?

[TorontoTrades]

as of right now the bare bones of our defense is:

Rielly - XX
Gardiner - Zaitsev
Dermott - XX


What will Lou and company do to improve this core. Gardiner only has another year on his deal. 36 year old Hainsey with one more year.

Do they hope Liljegren and Dermott complete their top 4? Keep Gardiner or let him go/trade him?

Trade or sign for a stud or hope middle pairing guys can fill the gap.


What are some predictions on where our D-Core goes from here?

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[rent free]

I think they'll try to be aggressive in free agency to sign a defender.

 

[Mugzy97]

as of right now the bare bones of our defense is:

Rielly - XX
Gardiner - Zaitsev
Dermott - XX


What will Lou and company do to improve this core. Gardiner only has another year on his deal. 36 year old Hainsey with one more year.

Do they hope Liljegren and Dermott complete their top 4? Keep Gardiner or let him go/trade him?

Trade or sign for a stud or hope middle pairing guys can fill the gap.


What are some predictions on where our D-Core goes from here?

I think the logical move is to trade Gardiner for a comparable RHD or for assets to acquire a comparable RHD, and let Hainsey fill in on his strong side which will balance out our D for years to come.

Rielly - RHD
Dermott - Zaitsev
Hainsey - Liljegren
Borgman

It just depends on who is interested in Gardiner and who is available to slot in on the right side. If we can sign a FA top pair RHD, we could still trade Gardiner for assets which would be more ideal.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Rielly and Dermott are top 4 guys and Borgman is coming along nicely. Gardiner may be the odd one out.

Rielly _______
Dermott Hainsey
Borgman Zaitsev
Carrick Ozhiganov

Holl and Rosen and Liljegren as call ups.

Gardiner+ for a top 4 RHD.

 

[ShaneFalco]

It will be interesting for sure. Not only will they have to address the D, but potentially other holes when UFAs walk

 

[The Iceman]

as of right now the bare bones of our defense is:

Rielly - XX
Gardiner - Zaitsev
Dermott - XX


What will Lou and company do to improve this core. Gardiner only has another year on his deal. 36 year old Hainsey with one more year.

Do they hope Liljegren and Dermott complete their top 4? Keep Gardiner or let him go/trade him?

Trade or sign for a stud or hope middle pairing guys can fill the gap.


What are some predictions on where our D-Core goes from here?

What...No Hainsey?
So you are talking in 2 years?
Lets finish this season and then worry about next year before planning 2020-21

 

[Danish]

Just in the medical team is going to clone Frederik Andersen,so next year on man defence and two goailes.

 

[MR4]

Think we should go this next year

Rielly-Hainsey
Dermott-Zaitsev
Gardiner-Carrick/Holl
Borgman

And year after go

Rielly-Doughty/Karlsson/OEL
Dermott-Liljegren
Borgman-Zaitsev
Holl

 

[Pi]

We'll grab OEL for a similar price given to McDonagh, Liljegren will play next year about half way through just like Dermott.

Rielly-OEL (Rielly probably plays RD but I put OEL here).
Gardiner-Zaitsev (Zaitsev being heavily sheltered whenever possible because he's not good)
Dermott-Liljegren
Hainsey

Hainsey and Liljegren alternate between being in and out. Bye bye to Polak. Bye bye to Carrick after trade deadline.

 

[Spirit of 67]

I voted for option 3 but I really have no idea what they'll do.

That said, it's just a hunch, but I think they'll trade Gardiner this summer. Looking to flip handedness there.

 

[NiL8r87]

I voted for option 3 but I really have no idea what they'll do.

That said, it's just a hunch, but I think they'll trade Gardiner this summer. Looking to flip handedness there.

If they trade Gardiner and keep Zaitsev they are legitimately f***ed.

 

[GoonieFace]

Personally, I think trading Gardiner is a big mistake. He gets alot of undue criticism. They essentially need a top pairing dman, not sure who or how they get one, but that would allow Hainsey to slide down the lineup: Something like this would be nice.

Reilly - New Guy (Carlson/DeHaan/Jack Johnson as UFA's) (note Im not saying these guys are #1dmen, but trading for one may be near impossible)
Gardiner - Dermott
Hainsey - Zaitsev

 

[Spirit of 67]

If they trade Gardiner and keep Zaitsev they are legitimately ****ed.

Predictable response.

 

[Mugzy97]

Personally, I think trading Gardiner is a big mistake. He gets alot of undue criticism. They essentially need a top pairing dman, not sure who or how they get one, but that would allow Hainsey to slide down the lineup: Something like this would be nice.

I like Gardiner, but we are pretty deep on LHD and Gardiner is next up for free agency, leaving him the odd man out IMO.

 

[DatSnipeMatthews]

Unless we sign a similar D-man to Gardiner in terms of overall impact, we are inking Gardiner long-term. Why the sweet f*** would we use a crazy combination of assets to land a top flight D-man when we can just resign Gardiner????

It's like some of you don't live in real life.

 

[SprDaVE]

Very likely they will build a balanced defensive core rather than top heavy.

 

[FabledKnight]

I would like them to get Pateryn this off season. He could push Zaitzev to the third pairing or be a good fallback if Hainseys age catches up to him next season.

Reilly Hainsey
Gardiner Pateryn
Dermott Zaitzev
Borgman

I would love Carrick this Draft. Borgman, Holl, Lillgren, Rosen and Neilson should be adequate depth.

 

[Randy Randerson]

OP, seems like you forgot about Hainsey, Carrick & Borgman, they'll still be here next year and they're all NHL defenders. Hainsey could decline I guess, but Carrick & Borgman could also improve

If we manage to get a RHD who's worthy of playing with Rielly, which granted is an expensive acquisition, our D is a top 10 unit

 

[GoonieFace]

Unless we sign a similar D-man to Gardiner in terms of overall impact, we are inking Gardiner long-term. Why the sweet **** would we use a crazy combination of assets to land a top flight D-man when we can just resign Gardiner????

It's like some of you don't live in real life.

I agree, I would re-sign Gardiner 6 years/$30mil

 

[Buds17]

We have some depth on the left side. Borgman was here for more than half a season and I think he'll be ready to rejoin the D corps next season. Dermott wasn't ever really here as an injury fill-in; he's proven that he's an NHLer for good.

Believe we have the pieces in place to be able to move Gardiner in the offseason and can at least use that cap space - if not also the assets - to improve our right side via trade or free agency, to go along with Zaitsev and Hainsey. I'd hope Liljegren is ready once Hainsey's contract is up.

 

[LeafGrief]

I expect they will go after a strong UFA like John Carlson. We've got a good young squad which puts pressure on management to not overpay. If they can get him or someone like him on a fair market deal, that would be huge. Adding a good player for only the price of his salary can be a great team-building move. Otherwise, they will look to trade for a lower-calibre player unless they can get a high calibre player on the cheap. All the while Liljegren and Dermott will keep developing.

Rielly-Hainsey (if it's not broken, don't fix it. This is an outstanding pair)
Gardiner-Carlson/XYZ
Dermott-Zaitsev

In two years

Rielly-XYZ
Dermott-Zaitsev
Borgman-Liljegren

Teams often look drastically different in just two years though. Next offseason might have several elite defensemen available and every team in the league will go hard after them. We might end up with Doughty. Gardiner might come back. Liljegren might step in next year and have a Provorov/McAvoy type impact. Dermott could explode into top pairing quality and we could end up with a Dermot-Rielly pairing. Zaitsev might get some confidence with the puck and start making plays. There are so many variables and ways that this team's defense can improve. Management doesn't need to go all in on any one avenue.

 

[Liminality]

Continue to draft and develop defenders while picking up ones in free agency.
Not sure if there's a trade available for defense help but we'd probably be looking at guys who Lou would rather not want to trade.
So for the poll, all of the above.

 

[Mess]

Personally my Plan A would be to sign Tavares this summer as UFA and then deal Marner/Nylander for a top pairing younger defender.

The summer target would be someone like OEL in Arizona. That would likely take some form of Marner/Nylander + Gardiner + Picks to get done.

Plan is twofold in that it addresses both a top C and a top D and the $6 mil cap that would have been invested in a winger would now be redistributed to primary building block key positions instead.

Matthews & Tavares as #1A and #1B down the middle and Rielly -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson top pairing D and Freddy in net would be the epitome of "Building from the goalie out, through strong defense and strength down the middle".

 

[Paladin2799]

Personally my Plan A would be to sign Tavares this summer as UFA and then deal Marner/Nylander for a top pairing younger defender.

The summer target would be someone like OEL in Arizona. That would likely take some form of Marner/Nylander + Gardiner + Picks to get done.

Plan is twofold in that it addresses both a top C and a top D and the $6 mil cap that would have been invested in a winger would now be redistributed to primary building block key positions instead.

Matthews & Tavares as #1A and #1B down the middle and Rielly -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson top pairing D and Freddy in net would be the epitome of "Building from the goalie out, through strong defense and strength down the middle".

I think you're overpaying for OEL. Happy to trade gardiner, not happy to trade nylander/marner. Just like with McD, you pay the price with other assets. Gardiner is a good enough piece that you can surround him with value and seal the deal. I'd happily give up brown and he's a very good player.

Love everything else you wrote.

I'd be 100000% over a AM-Tavares top6. Nasty cycle/size game baby. I think the only center pairing in the league that is even as good is crosby/malkin (which is better).

 

[selltrade]

as of right now the bare bones of our defense is:

Rielly - XX
Gardiner - Zaitsev
Dermott - XX


What will Lou and company do to improve this core. Gardiner only has another year on his deal. 36 year old Hainsey with one more year.

Do they hope Liljegren and Dermott complete their top 4? Keep Gardiner or let him go/trade him?

Trade or sign for a stud or hope middle pairing guys can fill the gap.


What are some predictions on where our D-Core goes from here?

Borgman is in the lineup next year for sure