How do you make the Leafs a great defensive team?

[Menzinger]

Anyone think its possible to move up to 5th overall from Arizona and select Evan Bouchard from the Knights. That would be a good move if the price isnt outrageous.

The price would be pretty bad.

Near impossible to move up in that range without having a top 10 pick yourself, or else you’d have to give up a prime young roser player

 

[TheScandal89]

The price would be pretty bad.

Near impossible to move up in that range without having a top 10 pick yourself, or else you’d have to give up a prime young roser player

That sucks, would really like to have a player like that with the age of our core. We have plenty of quantity but missing that top end quality for defense.

Kinda hoping it wouldn't go past our 1st + Kapanen + something lesser. But i dont know how to value very well.

 

[SHANNYPLAN]

Free Agency:
Sign John Tavares 7 x 9.1 Aav (14,10,10,8,8,7, 7)

Leafs - Caps

25th OA pick for Tom Wilson

Leafs - Flames

William Nylander, Cale Rosen
For
Dougie Hamilton

Leafs - Blue Jackets

Josh Leivo, 2nd 2019
For
Boone Jenner

WILSON - MATTHEWS - MARNER
MARLEAU - TAVARES - KAPANEN
HYMAN - - - - KADRI - - - JENNER
JOHNSSON - GAUTHIER - BROWN

RIELLY - HAMILTON
GARDINER - ZAITSEV
DERMOTT - HAINSEY

ANDERSON
MCBACKUP

The team still has its speed, but adds some much needed size and become much harder to play against

 

[Boutette]

Free Agency:
Sign John Tavares 7 x 9.1 Aav (14,10,10,8,8,7, 7)

Leafs - Caps

25th OA pick for Tom Wilson

Leafs - Flames

William Nylander, Cale Rosen
For
Dougie Hamilton

Leafs - Blue Jackets

Josh Leivo, 2nd 2019
For
Boone Jenner

WILSON - MATTHEWS - MARNER
MARLEAU - TAVARES - KAPANEN
HYMAN - - - - KADRI - - - JENNER
JOHNSSON - GAUTHIER - BROWN

RIELLY - HAMILTON
GARDINER - ZAITSEV
DERMOTT - HAINSEY

ANDERSON
MCBACKUP

The team still has its speed, but adds some much needed size and become much harder to play against

Is that you Burkie?

 

[thusk]

Toronto don't need top D. Toronto already having 3 good offensive minded D with Rielly, Gardiner and Zaitsev. One offensive D combined with a good defensive minded D could be a good fit, both player could complete each other. So a guy like Calvin DeHaan can be targeting this off-season and can be enough.

Rielly-De Haan
Gardiner-Hainsey or Dermott
Hainsey or Dermott-Zaitsev

each strengh of each can fill weakness of his partner and everybody looking better that way...

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Toronto don't need top D. Toronto already having 3 good offensive minded D with Rielly, Gardiner and Zaitsev. One offensive D combined with a good defensive minded D could be a good fit, both player could complete each other. So a guy like Calvin DeHaan can be targeting this off-season and can be enough.

Rielly-De Haan
Gardiner-Hainsey or Dermott
Hainsey or Dermott-Zaitsev

each strengh of each can fill weakness of his partner and everybody looking better that way...

De Haan has already had like 3 shoulder surgeries on the same shoulder I'm pretty sure so I be cautious with giving him much term.

 

[luvdahattymatty]

My 2 cents
Trade Gards for picks and prospects (addition by subtraction here)
Draft dmen who can skate and who play nasty (wait for development)
Hope Borgman and Dermott can develop more quickly than Rielly into top 4 dmen (they both have a nasty streak to them)
Trade with Jets for Chiarot (we need more nasty who can skate) shouldn't cost more than a 3rd liner winger and a pick
Trade with Vegas to get Millar (again we need more nasty who can skate) shouldn't cost more than a 2nd line winger and a pick
not huge trades but it will improve the defence considerably to have at least 5 nhl quality dmen and also some size and nasty when playoff starts

 

[luvdahattymatty]

We can't go into next years playoffs with same old same old on defence of last 2 years or we should expect a third playoff exit

 

[Al14]

Win Now mode is where you start trading picks for players. Leafs haven’t done that.

Two years in a row they paid for 4th line centre help with what?... Canadian Tire Money?

 

[as Pure as Evil]

id just give them the next 3 years to figure it out by drafting developing and maybe scoring some good ufas or buy low trades. you cant rush these things or you end up looking back and hindsight will drive you crazy. we are just entering our window. what we need is this fan base to relax and enjoy the ride . not to force panic trades that will cost the team unless a massive overpayment comes you don't trade the top tier prospects and players

 

[Boutette]

Two years in a row they paid for 4th line centre help with what?... Canadian Tire Money?

Serious teams tend fork out 1st round picks for difference makers (see: Tampa, Winnipeg). Less than serious teams send away a 2nd round pick for a slightly better 4th line center than what they've got.

 

[indigobuffalo]

I think that the better question for OP is how do you get the fan base to realize this team is NOT AIMING to be a great defensive team.

We would have to trade 80% of the roster and undertake another rebuild to become a great defensive team.

 

[ULF_55]

Intelligent
Good to excellent Skaters
Hard working
Want to win every game
Follow directions

Leafs already have star material, what they need now are players all pulling in the same direction and put the team first.

I want to see what the new management does to get the glue to put it altogether.

 

[BlueForever75]

Build from your strength which is your forward group.

Complement them with 2 more two-way center's and teach your wingers to back check effectively. Utilize the speed and puck possession traits your forwards have to alleviate pressure on the defense.

Ask your dmen to use boards more, play 2 on 1's better taking away the pass and allowing Andersen to focus on shooter, also use the high flip out of zone rather then ice the puck all the time.

We have the forward group with speed that can work with our current d-core. Ultimately, Vegas has proven that you don't need star studded dmen to get to the Cup and ultimately win it (which they are going to). What you need is your d-core helped by your forwards to play a 200 foot game night in and night out. Not to mention dmen playing to basics when it comes to helping out your goaltender. So he can look spectacular in a real easy manner.

 

[socko]

Instead of following in the footsteps of Vegas, and being reactionary, maybe we continue with the Pittsburgh model of building an offensive powerhouse. Pittsburgh still has the last 2 Cups even though they won't make it 3. And Vegas still has another round, they might get exposed by a very physical Caps team. I see they can shutdown skill but can they take getting beat up?

 

[TheLeafsBro]

I would love to see Dubas make an aggressive trade for Slavin. Asking price will be high, but we need a Dman like that if we are to get to the next level.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I would love to see Dubas make an aggressive trade for Slavin. Asking price will be high, but we need a Dman like that if we are to get to the next level.

"High" is an understatement. Although Dundon said "Anyone except Aho is available for the right price", Slavin is a close 2nd to being untouchable. Canes would ask for someone you wouldn't want to, nor would be willing to give up.

 

[TheProspector]

Swap Babcock out for a better coach.

 

[djdev]

Swap Babcock out for a better coach.

le sigh

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

But yeah as for the D, I would go with this next season:
Rielly - Dermott*
Gardiner - Zaitsev
Rosen/Borgman - Hainsey/Carrick

Dermott was pretty impressive in his stint last year, but he was still pretty sheltered and I saw struggles in his game against better competition (and in the playoffs). I DO think he's going to be an excellent defenseman (Top 4 for sure, maybe top 2) at some point, but I think it would be a bad plan to assume he's going to be starting on the top pairing. Maybe he pulls it off, but that's a bit of a risk, both for the team overall and his development to just plan on him there.

NYR fans thought that after an excellent year with sheltered minutes, that Brady Skjei was ready for big time and he struggled as he picked up more responsibility. The team as a whole wasn't as good, but he had some rough stretches.

 

[Al14]

Serious teams tend fork out 1st round picks for difference makers (see: Tampa, Winnipeg). Less than serious teams send away a 2nd round pick for a slightly better 4th line center than what they've got.

Trading picks for upgrades is trading picks for the sake of improving the roster. The Leafs have done it 2 years in row.

The poster I responded to said that the Leafs have not done it, but, in fact, they have!

 

[Atomos2]

I think that the better question for OP is how do you get the fan base to realize this team is NOT AIMING to be a great defensive team.

We would have to trade 80% of the roster and undertake another rebuild to become a great defensive team.

If you don't try to improve your weaknesses how can you expect to be anything more than what we are right now? We're not locked in to being a team that trades chances. There have been teams that have reshaped their identity, even with high flying scorers. We don't need another rebuild. There should be a way. Plus, it's a horrible mindset to go in and think we can't be much better than we are defensively. Especially when we are such a young team.

 

[indigobuffalo]

If you don't try to improve your weaknesses how can you expect to be anything more than what we are right now? We're not locked in to being a team that trades chances. There have been teams that have reshaped their identity, even with high flying scorers. We don't need another rebuild. There should be a way. Plus, it's a horrible mindset to go in and think we can't be much better than we are defensively. Especially when we are such a young team.

We are making the same style team as Vegas appears to have built.

It’s not about having behemoth defencemen that make it impossible to score a goal. It’s about having a mobile defensive corps that can move the puck, and a speedy forward group that is tenacious and unforgiving on the back check.

If you’ve had a chance to watch Vegas at all, you’ll see what I mean. These guys force turnovers in the neutral zone all game long. They have guys checking the opposing forwards in the neutral zone and forcing turnovers then beat teams down on the transition game.

If we want to address relevant areas of need, it would be improving in the face off circle. Adding Johnsson and Kapanen and removing van Riemsdyk and Komarov will address the backcheck issue, making us faster and more tenacious.

Losing Bozak will hurt the face off issue, but moving Nylander to C and hopefully seeing some big time improvement from Matthews on the front, will result in clearing up that issue.

Look at Boston. They DOMINATED us in the face off and kept running set play after set play. The Leafs struggled to find any rhythm as a result. And it is the key that will open the door to Matthews getting more minutes.

Trying to get some hulking shutdown D men will not solve anything.

 

[Community]

If Marner continues to play like a 2 way beast as he did in the playoffs, Matthews is healthier/keeps developing into a 2 way threat, ans Nylander transitions to center where he is foeced to play a better defensive game due to position they will already be a much better defensive team.

On defense all they really need is 1 top 4 rhd that is a mobile defenzive specialist with a good first pass (think Tanev) or a mobile 2-way defender (think Ellis). Everybody else shifts down and we look a lot better.

 

[Atomos2]

We are making the same style team as Vegas appears to have built.

It’s not about having behemoth defencemen that make it impossible to score a goal. It’s about having a mobile defensive corps that can move the puck, and a speedy forward group that is tenacious and unforgiving on the back check.

If you’ve had a chance to watch Vegas at all, you’ll see what I mean. These guys force turnovers in the neutral zone all game long. They have guys checking the opposing forwards in the neutral zone and forcing turnovers then beat teams down on the transition game.

If we want to address relevant areas of need, it would be improving in the face off circle. Adding Johnsson and Kapanen and removing van Riemsdyk and Komarov will address the backcheck issue, making us faster and more tenacious.

Losing Bozak will hurt the face off issue, but moving Nylander to C and hopefully seeing some big time improvement from Matthews on the front, will result in clearing up that issue.

Look at Boston. They DOMINATED us in the face off and kept running set play after set play. The Leafs struggled to find any rhythm as a result. And it is the key that will open the door to Matthews getting more minutes.

Trying to get some hulking shutdown D men will not solve anything.

That's a good explanation. I agree we don't need big hulking defencemen and there are definitely needs up front that need to be addressed. I'm just worried about the defensive lapses. I mean Freddie has had to be incredible most nights during the season, and if he hadn't, it was typically our high end offense that one the game for us. Maybe we can chalk this up to needing our defence to play better or just letting them evolve. I just wish we could just be as confident in our defense as we are in offense.