Toronto Maple Leafs fans are always critical of their favourite team, but one of the main things the Buds’ faithful have expressed over recent years was that the team needed better defence. Much of the past few seasons has seen lifetime Leaf Morgan Rielly carry much of the defensive load with little help.
Sure, he had some when the Leafs traded for Jake Muzzin back in 2019, but the Cup-winning defenceman was bombarded with injuries during his time in Toronto and is currently retired and in a player development role with the team.
But, much to the joy of Leafs fans, it seems that management has cracked the code and assembled what actually appears to be a competent and functional defence corps for the 2024–25 season. In fact, through the first 18 games, this looks like the best defensive group the team has had since the early 2000s when Czech star Tomas Kaberle was leading the team on the back end.
The age of Kaberle and McCabe
For those who need a refresher on early 2000s Toronto Maple Leafs hockey, the team was led by a strong core that included star center and captain Mats Sundin, solid wingers like Darcy Tucker and Alexander Mogilny, star goaltenders Curtis Joseph and Ed Belfour, and on defence, the strong duo of Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe fighting on the back end.
Kaberle and McCabe were truly great for the Leafs and along with great goaltending in the crease, the Leafs were extremely formidable for teams entering the offensive zone. The play by these two was just as effective on offence as well, with the duo consistently putting up solid point totals during their time in Toronto. Both are actually among the top 10 defencemen in franchise scoring all-time, with McCabe being seventh with 297 points as a Leaf and Kaberle with 520 points and second to only Leafs legend Borje Salming.
Great play from the returning guys
Fast forward to this season and the Leafs have clearly upgraded. Gone are the years spent with Morgan Rielly carrying a weak defensive group to a top-three spot in the Atlantic Division, or even before that, the days of captain D-man Dion Phaneuf leading the defensive charge en route to just a single playoff appearance that ended after just one round. It would be an understatement to say the Leafs have had mixed results on the defensive in the post-Kaberle/McCabe era, but the 2024–25 defence corps looks to be the best since.
Starting with the group itself, multiple members of the defence corps have been excelling thus far in the season. Morgan Rielly, while sitting at a -1, has led the team in defensive scoring with four goals and 13 points. Another returning Leaf who has been solid is Jake McCabe. The 31-year-old has put up just five points, all of which were assists, but he sits at a very impressive +6, showing his effectiveness at influencing impressive play on both ends.
Also returning and playing well is Conor Timmins who has racked up a goal and four points and sits at a very satisfactory +6. Timmins has also seen his playing time increase throughout the season, playing a personal season high of 19:45 against the Senators on Tuesday.
The new defenders on the block
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the players the Leafs added to their defensive unit this season. In the offseason, the team made two big moves on the free-agent market, signing veterans Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Beginning with Ekman-Larsson, he has been an excellent value for the team on a deal that earns him $3.5M per season. Ekman-Larsson has slotted in very effectively in the top four and has helped the team with five assists and six points while averaging the third most ice-time among Leafs defenders at 21:07.
Tanev has not been as effective from a strict scoring perspective with just three points—all of which were assists—to his name on the season thus far, but he has made up for it with the pure grit he brings on the defensive side of the ice. The 34-year-old led the 2024 post-season with 73 blocked shots, and he has continued that in 2024–25, currently leading the league with 58 blocks.
The defence has finally returned to its former glory
Now, we aren’t suddenly proclaiming that the Leafs have the best defence corps in the league, that would be a grand overstatement. But the group is definitely better than years past, and seemingly the best since the Kaberle/McCabe era. The goals-allowed stats paint a pretty clear picture of this. At their peak in the 2002–03 season—the year following a trip to the Eastern Conference Final—the Kaberle/McCabe group had the 10th least goals allowed per game in the league (2.54). While this current season is far from finished, the new defence corps are performing just as well, with the team currently sitting at fifth overall in the league in goals allowed per contest (2.61).
There is still lots of hockey left to play this season, but so far, this revamped defensive group has shown that they are different than those from years past. And with the trajectory they’re on, they likely are the best the Leafs have had since those early 2000s squads.
2 Comments