Toronto Maple Leafs’ defensive struggles raise questions about blueline construction – Hockey Writer – Toronto Maple Leafs

When a bad situation hits a team with playoff aspirations, as is currently the case with the Toronto Maple Leafs , people tend to point the finger at the deeper, core problem. Is the system working properly? Is coaching effective? Has the correct list been established?

For the Maple Leafs, this is most noticeable on the back end, where a group of reliable veterans carried over from last season are considered a trusted strength for the club. Now, with Toronto ranking last in the NHL in goals allowed per game (3.82), it’s reasonable to wonder if the blueline is too old, too slow and can no longer keep up with the rest of the league.

If that’s the case, then it’s hard to ignore the flaws in the construction of a force now built to win. Morgan Rielly gets a pass here, becoming the Maple Leafs’ longest-tenured player and the most-gamed player taken in the 2012 NHL Draft. Beyond Rielly, however, it’s worth taking a look at the construction of the top six and where the Maple Leafs may have gone wrong.

Toronto is quick to address their blueline issues in the summer of 2024. Even before free agency opened on July 1, the club positioned itself as a tough homegrown defender by acquiring the negotiating rights to Chris Tanev from the Dallas Stars. Although the two sides were unable to reach an agreement within the exclusivity negotiation window, they quickly signed a six-year, $27 million contract.

Later that same day, the Maple Leafs further solidified their blue line, snatching Oliver Ekman-Larsson from the defending champion Florida Panthers on a four-year, $14 million contract.

Tanev was 34 when he signed and Ekman-Larsson was about to turn 33, so both long-term deals were signed with the understanding that the new players would likely experience age-related decline over the life of their contracts. That’s not the case yet for Tanev, although an upper-body injury has limited the 35-year-old to eight games this season and he has four seasons left on a $4.5 million annual salary.

Meanwhile, Ekman-Larsson has been largely disappointing in Toronto. While he had a solid 2024-25 season (four goals, 29 points in 79 games), turnover issues and inconsistent play ultimately caused head coach Craig Berube to lose faith in the Swede. By the playoffs, he was averaging two fewer minutes per game than in the regular season (from 21:04 to 19:03), ranking fifth among Maple Leafs defenders.

Jack McCabe Trading

Aside from Rielly, the longest-serving member of the Maple Leafs’ current blue line is Jack McCabe. Acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks along with Sam Rafferty and a conditional draft pick at the 2023 trade deadline, he brings defensive responsibility and physicality to a much-needed defensive unit. Despite the high cost (a conditional 2025 first-round pick, a conditional 2026 second-round pick, Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev), the reliability he brings and the remaining year on his contract are valuable.

McCabe has been a respected and dependable defender in his four seasons in Toronto, leading the team in average minutes played last season (21 minutes, 30 seconds). However, he is not perfect. He gave up a career-worst 83 giveaways last season and is on pace to give away 21 this season. Even though he’s only 31, he looks old and slow at times as he struggles to catch up on opponents’ driving chances.

The McCabe trade itself is a win for the Maple Leafs. In exchange for a reliable front-four mainstay, they parted ways with a veteran who bounced between the NHL and American Hockey League (Anderson), a failed rookie who struggled in the Kontinental Hockey League (Gogolev) and two draft picks. It’s still possible that current NCAA standout Vaclav Nestrasil (25th overall pick in the 2025 draft) develops into a star, or Chicago strikes gold with Toronto’s 2026 second-round pick, but the deal will likely continue to look good.

What remains controversial, however, is the Maple Leafs’ decision to sign McCabe to a five-year contract extension worth $22.55 million early last season. The contract, which just took effect this year, will pay the Eau Claire, Wis., native $4.51 million per season until 2030, when he will be nearly 37 years old. Who knows what situation he or the team may find themselves in by then.

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Brandon Carlo Trade

Toronto’s success over the past decade has been fueled by the drafting and development of a talented core of superstar forwards (Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner), but it’s also been fueled by a strong track record of front office decision-making. Sure, there was an ill-fated Nazeem Kadri trade here or the signing of Patrick Marleau there, but few moves have negative long-term consequences.

Maybe until now. General manager Brad Treliving’s deal for Brandon Carlo at the trade deadline was supposed to give the team a strong, mentally tough defensive force to make a deep playoff run in 2025 and beyond. It’s not cheap, either, with the team shipping top pick Frazier Minten, a 2026 conditional (top-five protected) first-round pick and a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Boston Bruins.

Carlo’s tenure with the Maple Leafs, now 37 games in, looks disastrous. The 28-year-old appears dull and slow, often typifying some of the defensive lapses that plague the club. He and Rielly failed to develop the kind of chemistry the team had hoped for, one that would allow the longtime Maple Leafs player to play a larger role in the offensive zone. It was widely reported by reliable sources that the club was open to trading him last summer.

On the other side of the deal, 21-year-old Minten has broken into the everyday lineup for the emerging Bruins, scoring three goals and adding three assists in 18 games so far. He joined a long list of former Leafs players to score his fifth goal in a 5-3 win after returning to his old club last Saturday. In addition to Minten, the 2026 first-round pick could also become a coveted asset if Toronto continues to struggle this season.

The blueline is considered one of the few certainties the Maple Leafs can rely on during the 2025-26 season when Marner is out. There’s still plenty of time this season for things to change, but the early returns from Toronto’s game call that certainty into question. Hopefully this veteran squad can find answers and get back into shape. However, if they fail to do so, the building of the team is called into question.