There has been little question since the acquisition of Jake Muzzin last month that the Toronto Maple Leafs blueline is better than it was before the trade and that the 29-year-old is a legitimate top four defenseman, but two weeks since the deal was completed, it appears that main reason for trading valuable futures to upgrade the blueline has not been remedied.
After six games of playing the left side on the top pairing with Morgan Rielly shifting to his off side, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock shook up his defensive pairings and moved Muzzin to the left side of the second pairing with Nikita Zaitsev and shifted his top blueliner back to the left side and reunited him with veteran Ron Hainsey.
“(Switching up the pairings) was also something we've been talking quite a bit about just because we think [Rielly] should play on the left, we think he provides way more offence, way more shots and he's a better player over there.” Babcock said on after the 5-2 win over Colorado on Tuesday. “It's important to have your best guys play in their best spots. I had talked to [Muzzin] about it earlier anyway.”
At practice on Wednesday, Babcock maintained the same pairing combinations that finished the game in Denver, with Jake Gardiner being paired with Travis Dermott and the sophomore shifting to the right side.
It is understandable that Babcock would prefer to play to the strengths of his defensemen and put them in the best possible position to succeed, but if that means that Rielly, Muzzin and Gardiner all play the left side, that means that the right side of the blueline continues to be a chink in their armor and the whole purpose of the deal to upgrade has been defeated.
Leafs GM Kyle Dubas indicated that Muzzin would play on the right side, but someone forgot to tell Babcock that. Former Kings coach Darryl Sutter indicated that he never used the Woodbridge, ON native on his off side and in his seven games with Toronto, he has not played more than a few shifts on the right side.
Rielly played right defense earlier in his NHL career, but Babcock clearly believes that the potential Norris Trophy candidate is more effective on the left. Putting Gardiner on the bottom pairing allows the Leafs head coach to protect the speedy defenseman from unfavorable matchups and splits up the struggling combo with Zaitsev, while Dermott may be able to adjust to switching sides easier since he saw significant time on the right side in the American Hockey League.
What is not solved if the current alignment remains is limiting the ice time of Hainsey on the top pairing alongside Rielly and on the Leafs top penalty killing unit, instead of playing a reduced role and veteran tutor for Dermott. While it is possible that Babcock will continue to move around his combos and experiment with moving someone from the left to the right, it appears the main accomplishment of the Muzzin deal was to acquire Gardiner’s replacement on the left side next season when he leaves via free agency.
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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman had an interesting Leafs tidbit in the latest “31 Thoughts". While discussing the Muzzin deal with Kings GM Rob Blake, Kyle Dubas may have inquired about veteran winger Kyle Clifford. Clifford was part of the 2014 Cup winning squad, is known by Dubas from his days as an agent and plays a “heavy” game that Mike Babcock constantly refers to.
Clifford was one of a list of inexpensive depth forward options that might be a fit for the Leafs back in December, since he is relatively young (28 years old) and is signed through next season at a $1.6 Million AAV. With the Kings initiating a partial rebuild and likely shipping out pending UFA Carl Hagelin, it is possible that Blake would move out Clifford and that Dubas would be interested if the price becomes more reasonable as February 25th approaches.
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