{"id":4180,"date":"2025-07-18T00:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T00:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/4180\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T00:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T00:59:10","slug":"are-the-leafs-defensemen-good-enough-to-contend-for-stanley-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/4180\/","title":{"rendered":"Are the Leafs’ defensemen good enough to contend for Stanley Cup?"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the Core Four Era, it is no secret that that the Toronto Maple Leafs were an offensively dynamic team. They have averaged more than three goals per game<\/a> every single season since the 2016-17 season, ranking top-ten in that category, while they only found themselves top-ten in goals against three times. <\/p>\n

Since last offseason, Toronto has built a strong blue line adding the likes of Chris Tanev<\/a>, Oliver Ekman-Larsson<\/a>, and Brandon Carlo<\/a>. This helped lead to Toronto’s deepest playoff run since 2002. Besides Jani Hakanpaa<\/a>, every defenseman on the roster is under contract through the 2026-27 season. Toronto could head into next season with the same defensive core, but is it good enough to win a Stanley Cup? If not, what do the Leafs need to do to polish off their blue line?<\/p>\n

What they have<\/p>\n

At the end of last season, the Maple Leafs had Jake McCabe<\/a> and Chris Tanev on the first pairing, Morgan Rielly<\/a> and Brandon Carlo in the middle pair, along with Simon Benoit<\/a> and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.\u00a0 McCabe and Tanev emerged as a shutdown pairing for the Leafs, combining for a plus\/minus of +54.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the Maple Leafs acquired Brandon Carlo at the trade deadline, it appeared to end the years long search for a partner of the longest tenured Maple Leaf.\u00a0 Carlo\u2019s defensive style allows Rielly to feel more comfortable in his offensive role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Benoit brought strong defense and grit to the third pairing alongside Oliver Ekman-Larsson\u2019s two-way style.\u00a0 Toronto\u2019s depth on the blue line is stronger than it has been in previous seasons, but it still leaves room for improvement if you want a Stanley Cup winning roster.<\/p>\n

What they lack<\/p>\n

While every defenseman on the Maple Leafs contributes in different ways and it\u2019s tough to say any one player is a \u2018liability\u2019, the Leafs still don\u2019t have a \u201csuperstar\u201d defenseman.\u00a0 Someone that is a true backbone for the team whenever they are on the ice, and that the coach can have absolute trust in in any situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking at recent cup winners, it\u2019s almost an anomaly for a team to win the cup without a bonafide number one defenseman.\u00a0 The Panthers<\/a> had Gustav Forsling<\/a>, the Golden Knights<\/a> had Alex Pietrangelo<\/a>.\u00a0 Cale Makar<\/a> won the Conn Smythe with the Avalanche in 2022<\/a>, while Victor Hedman<\/a> was the backbone for the Lightning when they won back-to-back<\/a> cups in 2020 and 2021.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If I had to pick one player on the Leafs as their #1 defenseman, it would be Morgan Rielly.\u00a0 The Leafs have built their defensive core around Rielly since he was drafted.\u00a0 Although he is a great defenseman, Toronto\u2019s lack of playoff success in his tenure could indicate that they need more on the backend to make a deep run.<\/p>\n

What they can do<\/p>\n

If Toronto really wants to make a push for someone to lead their blue line, they don\u2019t have many real high profile options in free agency.\u00a0 However, one potential trade target that has been linked to Toronto is New Jersey Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton.\u00a0 Elliotte Friedman said on the “32 Thoughts<\/a>” podcast that Hamilton available in the trade market, stating that he is “the biggest question for the Devils.” The veteran blue liner has three years left on his deal<\/a>, which just switched from a no-move clause to a modified no-trade clause which puts him on the trade market.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hamilton makes 9 million per season against the cap, while the Leafs have just over $4.9 million<\/a> in space, so they would have to move a roster player to get a deal done.\u00a0 Should Toronto look to move a defenseman for Hamilton, Rielly<\/a>, Tanev<\/a>, and McCabe<\/a> are the only defenseman who getting rid of them would clear enough space for Hamilton.\u00a0 But Rielly and Tanev have no-move clauses, and McCabe has a no-trade clause which means they would have to approve a move to New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Do they need to make a splash?<\/p>\n

Earlier, I mentioned recent Stanley Cup winners and their superstar defenseman.\u00a0 While it seems that you need a superstar to win the cup, it isn\u2019t entirely unheard of for teams to win without one.\u00a0 Notably, the 2017 Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> won the Stanley Cup with a 35-year-old Ron Hainsey<\/a> as arguably their best defenseman.\u00a0 However, it\u2019s tough to compare teams from different decades.\u00a0 Just because one team did it, that doesn\u2019t guarantee that another can do it ten years later.<\/p>\n

While Toronto can maintain their group on defense that brought them the furthest they have been in the playoffs in multiple decades,\u00a0 getting to the second round isn\u2019t the standard.\u00a0 Winning the Stanley Cup is.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have a crystal ball, and I can\u2019t guarantee that they will or won\u2019t win the cup should they keep the blue line the way it is.\u00a0 But if they have an opportunity to improve the blue line and their chances to win the cup while their window is open, it may very well be worth it to jump at the chance while it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the Core Four Era, it is no secret that that the Toronto Maple Leafs were an offensively…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-4180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}