In a recent survey by The Athletic, which had approximately 10,000 fans ranking how confident they were in their favorite NHL team’s front office and 250 answers ranking every club, the Leafs placed 30th out of 32 NHL teams. Under the two categories, the Leafs received an overall grade of ‘D’ in categories such as roster building, cap management, draft and development, trading, free agency, and vision.
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While not scoring a grade higher than a ‘C’ in any category, from the public or fan base vote, former Leafs defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo discussed what he believed was the biggest issue with management on TSN 1050’s ‘First Up’ Wednesday.
“The only thing that I do agree with on these rankings is their drafting and developing. They deserve a ‘C’ because, as I’ve stated all along – and this goes back to when Kyle Dubas was managing this team – when you put yourself in a position to build a salary structure with your team where you’re going to build around four forwards, and it is going to occupy a large percentage of your cap, almost half of your cap, how the heck, organizationally, you did not decide to draft and develop more stud defensemen is beyond me,” Colaiacovo explained.
Since the Toronto Maple Leafs established the ‘Core Four’ in 2016, consisting of forwards Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares, the club hasn’t been criticized for their offensive upside, just the price tag that comes with it. However, their defensive shortcomings have been a different story.
“That’s what has kept this organization back. Since Morgan Rielly, what defenseman has this team drafted and developed that has been a stud on defense?” Colaiacovo asked. “Justin Holl, (Rasmus) Sandin, (Timothy) Liljegren – that’s where the organizational failure has been with this team. You’ve built around four forwards, and you just continue to draft forwards to play with those guys.”
And it’s true, the numbers tell the tale. Since drafting Morgan Rielly in the first round (fifth overall) in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, the club has drafted 30 defensemen. On a more precise timeline, from 2012 to 2019, 21 defensemen were drafted by the Leafs. Of those 21, nine have played games in the NHL, four have played over 15 games, three of which for the Leafs, and only one currently…