Are You Happy With The New Look Defence In Toronto? w/ Chris Johnston | SDP 

Every cup team has a #1 defence guy and unfortunately this is just yet another year where they don't have that. Tanev's contract is going to be an anchor sooner than you think

OEL will be good for the first 2-3 years of that deal. Ship him later will work.

It'll do for a start. I think if we're going to make the Cup, it'll be a flash in the pan thing; this year or never, because of how Berube helped St. Louis won it; then watched as St. Louis collapsed after the captain Petrangelo left for Vegas (where he won another one last year). The key is that Berube understands where the work needs to be done if you want to go deep in the playoffs: defensively and in net, as he showed with the first moves St. Louis made after he got onboard, bringing Binnington up from the minors and getting their defensive game to be near-flawless. NO MORE getting show horses at the front end at the expense of the back end; Toronto has far more than enough (likely too many).

Chris Johnston is great

Years ago toronto had a good defence and, as usual, were on the cusp of ‘winning the big one’. They had a stay at home defenceman who took care of business in front of the net. Apparently he wasn’t flashy enough for Leafs brass and they let him walk that summer. Bob Rouse went on to win his Stanley Cup with Detroit. Detroit finally had a defenceman who took care of business. I always rued the day Rouse left, cuz when he was here he made it possible for the other defence do what they did best. I see Tanev as the Leafs’ new takin’ care of business defenceman - their new Bob Rouse! Looking forward to next season for sure now.

Jani Hakanpää walks into the Leafs lineup as one of, if not the best defenseman they have. Obsessing over injury riddled puck movers who can't move bodies, block shots, or clear zones safely has been a sore spot on the Leafs for 6 years. You need players to shut down top lines on the rush and the cycle. Their possession and keep away strategy breaks down under any heavy fore check.

hey... capfriendly is down but sdpn crew is on the special thank you section.

nope because the leafs are always getting players at the end/last phase of their careers.

OK there are a lot of options right now on D, assuming they gel for the most part and not suffer too many injuries; this core would be the quite sound going into the playoffs without even having to make a trade deadline upgrade.

To answer the question no I’m not because In the grand scheme of things nothing upfront or in the front office has changed so it’s gonna be more of the same until it does even then there are no guarantee’s.

if Tanev not play top pair defense, would help to acquire top pair defenseman?

Tanev on the downslop... yeah

I will be happy with Leafs defense, if Liljegren can show more confidence and grit this year. He needs to be a second pair player.

Why do these leafs always love these Swedish offensive defensive men so much. They never pan out

OEL is really not very good. I know he won the cup this year, but it was not because of him. That was pretty much all Forsling and Montour on the backend. Tanev is a good player but he’s so old. A long term contract for him seems insane especially given he seems to gets injured quite a bit.

I don't think anyone can argue in good faith that it's not an objective improvement over what they had last year. Tanev alone fills a hole in their defense that has existed for like a DECADE now. But what the contracts tell me is that they're REALLY banking on their next two years being "the one," because the ENDS of those contracts are clearly gonna be a serious anchor if the Leafs haven't made serious strides towards a cup by then.

could McCabe play top pair defense with Reilly?

Hakka will be ready second half of the season...big addition on the right.. buckle up

This year is a mini rebuild . Defense is rebuilding, so is goaltending. Still need a centre and winger. a cup contender with this many needs, nope small rebuild.

How was gio at 34 just saying

Tanev isn't a big hitter. He's a second pair guy. He was the fourth guy in Calgary and Dallas. I Like OEL and he played first pair minutes for the first 20-30 games for Florida. He's the only guy they have who has ever been a legitimate first pair defenseman. Haakinpaa can't play anymore.

Nothing is going to change..the problem wasnt defense in the playoffs..it was the group cant score worth a sh!t when it matters

Benoit!

No because morgan reilly is still there 😊

It doesn't matter!

I like it. Looking forward to it. Just want Marner and Tavares gone

Tanev will barely play 50% of the season

How about sending Marner and Liljegren to Florida for Ekblad, Luostarinen, and Verhaeghe?

Kleinberg?

old, injury prone, and no depth. 2 injuries and this team is headed for the basement

nope

Leafs will do same thing they did with hyman..let marner walk and he will go be absolutely fantastic or even win a cup somewhere else...the player that needs to go is jt...

Tanev cannot sustain 20 minutes a ngiht 82 games a year. OEL is not a top 4 D man that can handle 82 games either. With minimal input from their bottom 6 in crunch time, and their defensive depth questionable....goaltending a huge question mark....how far can they go? Not far.

It’s the right direction to have better Defense, but it’s not enough. You still have overpaid soft forwards taking up too much of your cap Shanahan Dubas destroyed our chances. We need to move 2 of the core 4.

Nyes... It got from bad to meh...

Still one of the worse defensive group of all playoff bound teams. Another year they don't have a single top pairing defensemen. Last year OEL had 32 pts in the regular season and 6 pts on the playoffs... what resurgence?

TML should have gone after Roy or Pesce who can actually play 1st pair minutes. This team as is a guaranteed 1st round playoff exit!

Its a terrible defence core

Team still sucks

Overpaid and will underperform 😂

if they EVER get past a 2nd round in the playoffs then we'll talk - disgruntled Leafs fan

the OEL signing is really bad, not quite as bad as Korpisalo but it has the same problem...too much money and too much term for a guy who should be playing lower in the lineup.

Adam's laugh is cringeworthy.