TO's Defense

[hobie]

Why does TO need to improve the d?

Do we need a perfect d comprised of perfect d-men in order to be competitive?

I just checked the Leaf's position in GAA category and I see the Leafs have the 8th best GAA in the league. I've heard that Vasilevskiy is a shoe in for the Vezina and he has Hedman and Stralman and now McDonaugh in front of him. TB is only 2 goals better than the Leafs.

Polak gets little love but what should we expect for 1 mil. per year, Chara in his prime? Gardiner the perennial stats champion of the Leaf d gets 4 mil. so he's arguably TO's best d-man, do we need to find someone like Hedman pay him 7.8 mil. so we can shave 2 goals against after 72 games. 

We have a lot of home team anxiety that's fed by ourselves and the media, multiple networks that dwell on every mistake like somehow TO is the only team that makes mistakes, the only team has goals scored against.

There's no way any of TO's precious youth should be squandered on possible upgrades for the d especially when the d we have is already superior and the team is improving game by game, week by week.......

[WordsOfWisdom]

What concerns me is the number of shots the Leafs allow. They lean too heavily on Andersen. 

 

There's nothing wrong with Rielly, Gardiner, Polak, and company...... but here's the question I would ask: If you were having a mock NHL draft, and you were selecting players for your team, would any of Toronto's current defencemen be in your top 2 D-men selections? 

 

If Toronto had six guys that were like Gardiner or Rielly without any dropoff, it would be a fantastic group. Best in the league probably.

 

Maybe this problem solves itself. Maybe Toronto has their prime "Chara" and said player will continue to elevate their game and win a Norris trophy in the near future. 

 

[hobie]

What TO does have is probably the 15 and 16 top rated d-men league wide. If you have one of the top 2 d-men then you have to pay them super star wages like Pk, Hedman, etc.

 

You can only afford so many top quality players like Chicago with their 2 stars making 10 mil. per year, not enough money left to adequately fill out the roster.

 

You can't have 6 d-men making 5 mil. or more a year because your forward group would suffer or/and your goaltending.

 

Being outshot is troubling but can we reasonably blame that on the d, the d has 4 puck movers that should facilitate considerable possession. I think that altho TO's forwards are talented, able to score no matter their shot volume, they aren't possession types. Players that want the puck and are willing to pay the price to get it and keep it.

 

TO can win while being outshot by 10 or more shots per game, they've been doing it all year. Andersen has played great but no one player can win games on their own, great goaltending on  winners is the norm, GAA is a team accomplishment.

 

Thru the whole year we haven't heard Babs complain much about the d, the media and fans do but Lou brought in, at the trade dead line, a possession type forward. TO has tons of depth at forward we all assume.