When Was The Last Time You Were This Optimistic About Toronto’s D Core?

[Notsince67]

defence should always be a preparation for offence. we have great forwards who shouldnt be thinking the other way. hopefully this d understands it isnt their primaary role to score but to put the forwards in the best position to do so. if i see another year of forwards getting back to the dzone first ,i will lose it.

 

[Nineteen67]

They have 10+ defencemen with NHL experience and a 26 yr old rookie that’s done well in the KHL.

 

[TheShape]

I was too young for the early 90s teams but I remember being most excited when we acquired Leetch. He had a solid playoffs for us too. That JR goal and celebration still sticks out in my mind; it was such a dagger

I was gutted when Leetch joined the Bruins, at the time I thought he would come back to Toronto. I believe he was around a PPG with us, albeit a small sample size. Awesome player.

 

[Bluelines]

Been a while since I’ve gone into a season without worrying about our D core, but I’m pleasantly optimistic this year, especially if Dermott makes a step forward and Lehtonen lives up to the hype.

Lehtonen is already on 1st team All Star practice squad. Two points in his 1st scrimmage game.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

The last time I was optimistic about the Maple Leafs defence was when they won the cup.

Tim Horton
Bob Baun
Larry Hillman
Red Kelly
Kent Douglas
Marcel Pronovost
Allan Stanley

That's what came to my mind as well. Its seems like we've been searching to plug holes and fix our blueline forever now.

With the divisional format (and a Canadian team entering the Conference finals), I think this is our year. Hopefully adding Brodie will do the trick.

 

[janesy12]

I was extremely excited for Tyson Barrie, it didn't work out....

 

[Smif]

I’ll be the first to admit, it was the summer we got Beauchemin

Kaberle
Phaneuf
Gunnarson
Beauchemin
Schenn(20 years old)
White (who had some solid years)
Finger
Komisarek


Lol, although I do wonder how that team would have been had they had the goaltending.

Did we get Beauchemin in the same offseason as Komisarek?

 

[LeafGrief]

Can't say I'm "excited" about our defense core, but it looks better than last year. If Lehtonen is a legit top4 player, or Sandin or Dermott take the next step, AND Brodie is a great fit then I'll be on board the hype train. After the disaster that was Barrie last year, I'm still a little apprehensive. There's really good pieces on our D and I like the depth, it all just needs to come together.

 

[Warden of the North]

I’ll be the first to admit, it was the summer we got Beauchemin

Kaberle
Phaneuf
Gunnarson
Beauchemin
Schenn(20 years old)
White (who had some solid years)
Finger
Komisarek


Lol, although I do wonder how that team would have been had they had the goaltending.

This. Yup

 

[The Podium]

Kaberle - Phaneuf
Beauchemin - Komisarek
Gunnarsson - Schenn

Then they hit the ice...

 

[LFCTML]

Honestly, I feel exactly as excited as I was when we traded for Barrie.

 

[ottomaddox]

It saddens me to say:

When we had Bryan Berard.

Before his bad injury.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Mironov
Lefebvre
Ellet
Macoun
days

 

[LeafGrief]

Kaberle - Phaneuf
Beauchemin - Komisarek
Gunnarsson - Schenn

Then they hit the ice...

That's an awesome left side and a right side that would make a man weep. So I guess it's about average for us then.

 

[Mess]

The last time I was optimistic about the Maple Leafs defence was when they won the cup.

Tim Horton
Bob Baun
Larry Hillman
Red Kelly
Kent Douglas
Marcel Pronovost
Allan Stanley

Agreed, however technically Red Kelly while he was a Norris trophy winner with the Wings prior to Leafs acquiring him, he was moved to Centre on the Leafs when he arrived playing behind Davey Keon.

 

[Fogelhund]

Kaberle - Phaneuf
Beauchemin - Komisarek
Gunnarsson - Schenn

Then they hit the ice...

That should have been a good group. Beachemin never really fit in, but was very good before we got him, and after. Komisarek had that unfortunate injury, and was never the same. Schenn would have made a good third pairing D, but expectations were too high on him, and he gained too much weight.... Should have been a good D core. But, wasn't.

 

[zeke]

While I have been enthusiastic about previous versions, this is the first time all the advanced stats have been this excited along with me.

The advanced stats clearly see both Rielly and Muzzin as #1 dmen (though neither as elite #1s), and Brodie as a #2. That's the first time the Leafs have had that kind of top half of a dcorps in the advanced stats era. And with dermott, lehtonen, holl, Bogosian, sandin, Liljegren they have a pretty great group of depth talent to fill the bottom half. What's even better is that this time 2 of our top 3 are more known for defense than offense, which wasn't the case in the Phaneuf or kaberle/McCabe eras.

Past iterations looked good by the normal stats, but the advanced stats didn't agree - especially in the Phaneuf era.

Thing is the leafs had some pretty good defense corps sabotaged by league worst goaltending.

Kaberle/kubina/McCabe top 3 with Gill/Cola/White/etc as depth was pretty darn good.

Hmm gonna see if I can find some older fancy stats.

 

[Buds17]

I can appreciate that the 7th D could be a guessing game on any given night. The top three should do well enough at either end of the ice. Ability and capability will always be important. Being able to suit up for enough of the games counts too. A better fate on that front, or being better equipped to manage injuries, helps a good deal.

 

[Mess]

I was most comfortable with our Defense when either Tim Horton or Borje Salming were on the ice.

 

[MLSE]

This year I am optimistic.

 

[MoreMogilny]

When we signed Kubina and Gill?
Maybe we should have made a swing for Chara that offseason

 

[zeke]

Let me see what I can glean from some older fancystats data. I'll use evolving-hockey's 3yr weighted average percentile ranks, which uses data back to 2007-08.

Here's how the leafs' D has looked heading into each season by this number:

asterisk = 1yr of data only

'21: 1.Muzzin 92, 2.Rielly 88, 3.Brodie 82, 4.Dermott 78, 5.Holl 34, 6.Bogosian 21, 7.Lehtonen/Sandin/Liljegren
'20: 1.Rielly 97, 2.Muzzin 89, 3.Barrie 69, 4.Dermott 65, 5.Ceci 14, 6.Marincin/Holl/Gravel/Sandin/Liljegren
'19: 1.Gardiner 89, 2.Rielly 68, 3.Hainsey 48, 4.Zaitsev 31, 5.Marincin 29, 6.Dermott/Ozhiganov/Rosen/Holl
'18: 1.Gardiner 86, 2.Hainsey 58, 3.Rielly 47, 4.Carrick 45, 5.Polak 21, 6.Zaitsev 11*, 7.Borgman/Dermott
'17: 1.Gardiner 75, 2.Rielly 54, 3.Polak 41, 4.Marincin 18, 5.Hunwick 8, 7.Carrick/Marchenko/Corrado
'16: 1.Gardiner 69, 2.Rielly 57, 3.Hunwick 37, 4.Polak 27, 5.Phaneuf 23, 6.Marincin 17, 7.Carrick/Corrado
'15: 1.Franson 84, 2.Gardiner 69, 3.Robidas 64, 4.Phaneuf 58, 5.Rielly 57*, 6.Polak 45, 7.Holzer/Percy
'14: 1.Franson 91, 2.Phaneuf 82, 3.Liles 76, 4.Gunnarsson 71, 5.Gardiner 62, 6.Fraser 61, 7.Rielly/Ranger
'13: 1.Liles 89, 2.Gardiner 87*, 3.Phaneuf 71, 4.Gunnarsson 67, 5.Franson 66, 6.Komisarek 12, 7.Fraser/Kostka
'12: 1.Liles 96, 2.Phaneuf 65, 3.Franson 65, 4.Gunnarsson 64, 5.Schenn 57, 6.Aulie 12, 7.Komisarek 5
'11: 1.Phaneuf 83, 2.Kaberle 82, 3.Lebda 46, 4.Gunnarsson 45*, 5.Schenn 34, 6.Beauchemin 24, 7.Komsiarek 8
'10: 1.White 83, 2.Kaberle 72, 3.Finger 65, 4.Komisarek 18, 5.Beauchemin 14, 6.Exelby 10, 7.Schenn 2*
'09*: 1.White 81, 2.Finger 75, 3.Kaberle 72, 4.Stralman 40, 5.Kubina 38, 6.Schenn/Frogren/VanRyn/Cola


So this year the data likes the leafs' D better than it ever has. So that's nice. The data doesn't think the leafs have ever had a top-3 really even close to this one. Also the depth looks as good as it's ever been.

Looking back, we had good reason to be excited going into that 13-14 season. Phaneuf had yet to fall off a cliff, even if he wasn't elite, Gunnarsson was solid, we had a couple analytics darlings in Liles and Franson, and a couple of exciting young talents in Rielly and Gardiner coming in. Of course, that fell apart almost instantly - over the next 2yrs Phaneuf fell off a cliff, Liles and Gunnar were traded for plugs, Gardiner was sent to the minors, Franson left as UFA.

Looking back, I'm most surprised to see the analytics having such a crush on Liles, and hating Beauchemin so much. I wouldn't have guessed.

Also, it turns out Jeff Finger was actually pretty good, and better than a bunch of the more expensive guys we signed. Hilarious.

Meanwhile, the Komisarek saga was just sad from start to finish. He was awful evenbefore we signed him to that idiotic contract.

 

[Throw More Waffles]

This forum was more optimistic going into last year. A full year of Muzzin, and the “arguably” best leaf rhd in decades.

Of course that has all been forgotten... and now THIS year is going to be the “best d EVER!!!!”

 

[nsleaf]

Kaberle - Phaneuf
Beauchemin - Komisarek
Gunnarsson - Schenn

Then they hit the ice...

Looked good on paper ......

 

[ToneDog]

Salming
Turnbull
Carlyle
Johansen
Glennie
Pelyk