GETTING DEFENSIVE
The Leafs seem to have figured out how to develop defencemen, and it could be the key to their success,
It takes a long time to build a quality NHL defence. Perhaps as long as a decade, and that’s if you make it a priority.
Nashville always has, which is why even after trading away Shea Weber and Seth Jones in the past two years, the Predators still have arguably the most capable blue-line crew in the league.
Carolina and Philadelphia, to name two clubs, have emphasized defence in the draft in recent years, and could soon have terrific groups on the back end.
The Maple Leafs? Certainly the blue line has been the most examined part of the roster during training camp this fall. Last year, it was more about whether Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner would measure up as NHL attackers, and whether Frederik Andersen could fill the void in net.
The Leafs offence, led by Matthews, ended up being fifth best in the NHL. Andersen still has to prove some things, but he played 66 games and demonstrated he could be a workhorse netminder.
The blue-line corps, meanwhile, is at an intriguing point.
As with many things in the postexpansion era, the philosophy of a sturdy defence went by the wayside with the Leafs. Other than signing Borje Salming, the Leafs searched and searched for talent on the blue line for years, but only occasionally found it. They used high draft picks on Bob Neely, Jim Benning, Gary Nylund, Al Iafrate, Luke Richardson, Drake Berehowsky and Kenny Jonsson, but none flourished and became stars as Leafs.
The best defence the Leafs were able to put together might have been Pat Burns’ crew of Dave Ellett, Bob Rouse, Sylvain Lefebvre, Todd Gill, Jamie Macoun and Dmitri Mironov in the early 1990s, with all but Gill and Mironov acquired by trade.
Similarly, the 2002 Leafs defence, part of that year’s conference finalist team, had draftee Tomas Kaberle with the rest (Aki Berg, Bryan McCabe, Dmitri Yushkevich, Jyrki Lumme and Cory Cross) acquired from other clubs.
In other words, the Leafs could build quality defence corps out of spare parts from other teams, but they just couldn’t do it on their own.
In an ideal world, Luke Schenn, drafted fifth overall in 2008, would now be emerging as the kingpin of the Leaf defence at age 27. But Schenn didn’t work out, partly because he came along just as the style of NHL defenceman most in demand was changing. Big, strong stay-at-home types were slowly phased out, and good skaters who could get back quickly and move the puck smartly became the kinds of defenceman teams wanted most.
The Leafs caught that wave with Morgan Rielly, drafted by Brian Burke four years after Schenn, and are now part way towards developing a mobile blue-line group capable of helping a team become a serious contender.
It’s not there yet. The top three — Rielly, Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev — are still finding out how good they can be, while the bottom half of the defence remains in flux. Ron Hainsey should help that area, but he’s 36 years old. Matt Hunwick was phased out from last year’s team, and Roman Polak and Martin Marincin are going to have trouble finding a roster spot. That’s good. You’ll know the Leafs are getting somewhere when those players can’t make the lineup any more.
“Some of the guys that made our roster in the past, they were at a lower level than the players have to now make the roster,” head coach Mike Babcock says.
Connor Carrick, 23, could be part of the answer. He’ll play with one of Travis Dermott (20), Calle Rosen (23) or Andreas Borgman (22), all unknowns as NHL regulars at the moment. First-round pick Timothy Liljegren is somewhere in the future.
So there’s hope the Leafs may be better in the bottom half of their defence, but no proof of that yet. The best chance for this Toronto defence to be better lies with the top three players. Gardiner, Rielly and Zaitsev.
In particular, the time has come for Gardiner (drafted 11 places after Schenn in 2008) to demonstrate he’s ready to hit the big time.
Rielly, 23, and Zaitsev, 25 and only a sophomore, still have learning to do. But Gardiner is now 27 with 407 games under his belt, well past the 300-game mark before which most wise hockey people say you can’t really judge an NHL defender. The apprenticeship is over. His numbers were right there with the likes of Weber, Drew Doughty and Ryan McDonagh last year.
“It’s just been night and day,” Babcock says. “He’s gone from a guy who didn’t have confidence to maybe our best.”
If you were going to focus on one player who could help vault the Leafs into serious contention this year, it would be Gardiner.
The defence as a whole still has a long way to be considered with the best in the league, although it’s a positive sign the Leafs are mostly trying to develop this area of the team by drafting and recruiting, rather than trading.
Gardiner was drafted by Anaheim, but his development has been solely with the Leafs. Now, he might be poised to truly join the league’s elite. If he does, it will be a sign this organization has really learned how to nurture talent, and could make the Leafs into a serious threat sooner than most would have believed. Damien Cox is the co-host of Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for The Star. Follow him @DamoSpin. His column appears Tuesday and Saturday.