Toronto Maple Leafs: How Do You Fix The Blueline?
With their loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, that’s three blown leads (by multiple goals) in the last three games for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Against the Jets, the Toronto Maple Leafs were ahead 4-0. They squandered the lead to the Wild the following night, allowing two goals in the third period (and suffering the team’s first regulation loss of the season). And they had a two goal lead on the Blackhawks late in the third, too.
You can probably see where this is going, right?
Goaltending has taken the brunt of the blame. Sure, for a couple of the thirteen goals they’ve allowed on this road trip, you could make the argument that either Frederik Andersen or Jhonas Enroth could have made the easy save.
More from Editor In Leaf
Inexperience isn’t the problem, either. In fact, six Leafs rookies have combined through 20 points through 5 games this season. As Mike Babcock put it so appropriately Saturday night, “It wasn’t the young guys who made those mistakes.”
He’s right. Offensively, the Leafs are gifted. Defensively, they’re a disaster waiting to happen, especially with the blueline. Ironic, given that the blueline should be good at playing defense.
How do you fix a blueline that is so flawed, benching Matt Hunwick in favour of Frankie Corrado wouldn’t even solve half of their defensive woes?
I’d really like to pick Babcock’s brain and ask him why he had Hunwick and Roman Polak on the ice in the dying minutes of Saturday’s game, trying to protect the one-goal lead. They ended up letting two Blackhawks (Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews, to be exact) in behind them, undefended, right on Andersen’s doorstep.
And then the game was tied.
There aren’t any internal solutions to fixing the flaws of the current blueline. Scratching the two worst defensemen (Hunwick and Polak) is definitely a start. But their replacements (Corrado and Martin Marincin) aren’t long-term solutions. None of the Marlies defensemen are ready for NHL duty yet.
Of course, when Hunwick and Polak get more ice-time than Gardiner, there’s obviously an issue there. Gardiner has proven that he’s the Leafs best defenseman, so why is he second-lowest in TOI on the back-end? Why does it seem like Babcock can’t see the damage he’s doing when he tells Hunwick and Polak to hop over the boards?
Help has to come from the outside. Can they figure out a way to pry Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets without losing Morgan Rielly or Jake Gardiner? Could they sign Kevin Shattenkirk when he hits free agency?
Something has to change, because the team is a disaster in their own zone and it doesn’t appear to be getting any better, any time soon.
What would you do?
This article originally appeared on 
