Currently Leafs defense has the following players Reilly, Gardiner, Zaitsev, Hainsey, and Dermott. Carrick and Polak are free agents, Carrick being an RFA. So I assume those two are gone.
Reilly has 4 years left at $5M
Zaitsev has 6 years left at $4.5M
Dermott has 2 years left at $863,333
Gradiner has 1 year left at $4.05M (UFA)
Hainsey has 1 more year at $3M (UFA)
Let the young kids play next season. Borgman, Rosen, and Liljegren can make the jump, Leafs need any two of these guys to play. If things go well then Gardiner and Hainsey are UFA's you keep to make a run or if the season goes bad you trade them at the deadline.
Use that 7+M of Gardiner and Hainsey and sign a stud dman (Doughty being a UFA next July 1). If the stud guy doesn't become available then you use the cap space somewhere else.
The Leafs can always take a page out of the Golden Knights approach to creating a solid dcore, right?
Leafs have tons of options. Specially with guys from over seas. If they come cheap then why not give them a shot. Borgman and Rosen make $925,000. if they are busts you don't lose anything as they just play on the Marlies.