The Maple Leafs are off to a predictable start to begin the 2016/17 season. Defensive woes have been the primary concern now that the offense has been shored up with the additions of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Brown and a stable fourth liner in Matt Martin. Two new goalies have been brought in to give the young Leafs a new look. Andersen and Enroth have got off to difficult starts in the blue and white and that will likely be the case until Lou Lamoriello pulls the trigger on a trade.

One argument could be made that the Leafs goalies haven’t been playing great, which is true, they haven’t been spectacular. But the majority of this blame is certainly pointing in the direction of weak defense and forwards not doing a good enough job with their back-checking and job at covering the point.

The little things are what Babcock drills home to each of his players, making sure they know there specific job on each face-off or zone outlet. Thankfully the season is young and Babs will have some time to get these guys on track and be better, because right now they are simply not cutting it.

There is only one defenseman on Toronto’s roster who is in the plus column, and that’s newcomer Connor Carrick (+2).

As much as I love Morgan Rielly, he’s had a rather mediocre start to the season and I expect better from him going forward. He and Nikita Zaitsev seem to be the Leafs best defensemen thus far, which really cements Toronto’s needs going forward that they need to improve the defense of this team before they officially move forward with results to show.

We can all see the offense of the team is in much better shape going forward, and that will only continue to blossom over time. What Babcock and his coaching staff needs to do now, is really ram down their throats the importance of quality two-way play. Learning this aspect of the game now is vital for success down the road in years to come. The Leafs as we know are very young and extremely inexperienced at the NHL level and likely why we have seen them cough up a few fur balls along the way.

Looking forward in terms of who’s out the door next season, who needs to be resigned and most importantly who’s coming up the pipeline:

Polak – 2.2 million
Hunwick – 1.2 million
Zaitsev – 925k
Corrado – 600k

You also have Robidas who will officially be off the books after this season – 3 million

Leafs won’t have to pay the Gleason buyout anymore – 1.3 million

My guess would be Toronto doesn’t bring back Polak, Hunwick or Corrado unless they vastly improve as the season goes on. They are all borderline third pairing defensemen at this point and if the Leafs want to improve overall they will have to do better, and ice a better product (player).

It seems as if the Leafs offense is revamped and ready to learn and improve. But this defense looks like it’s the same caliber as last year’s team, minus Zaitsev who has been better than most fans and experts predicted.

Who’s in the system that could be worthy?

For starters the Leafs have Travis Dermott who I have pegged as a second pairing defensemen. They have both Viktor Loov and Rinat Valiev who are both good prospects and could be fitting for the bottom pairing unless they breakout and hit another level. The gem I think will be Andrew Nielsen and the way things are going for Babcock’s Leafs right now, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a call up for a game or two before Christmas.

Nielsen is off to an excellent start for the Toronto Marlies, scoring three goals and chipping in with four assists through eight games. He’s nineteen years of age and was drafted in 2015 by the Leafs in the third round. Born in Red Deer, Alberta, Andrew is a big solid defenseman coming in at 6 foot 3 inches and 210 pounds. Andrew is a physical defenseman who likes to chip in offensively but most importantly get the job done on the back end. He could use some work on his foot-speed but nothing drastic. He’s the type of defensemen who gets in the way quickly, he allows very little space for the opposing team to get a shot off or setup in front of the net. His ability to move the puck out is impressive, he’s very heads up and is able to dish off a crisp pass or let go a hard blaster from the point.

He’s likely the Leafs best defensive prospect, and one I hope continues to progress until Babcock gives him the call up to play with the big boys.

The Leafs showed the Canadiens they are going to give them a hard time in years to come, but for now Price will shut the door and he continues to carry the Habs on his shoulders. Unfortunately Toronto put up a stinker on Sunday against the Islanders, getting shelled 5-1.

As fans we just have to continue to be patient, nobody said the ride was over, it’s just begun.

note: Jeremy Bracco has 24 points in 11 games and is absolutely dominating.

Have a great Halloween and be safe!

Thanks for reading.

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