Do the Leafs' Defense Suck?

The Leafs defensive pairings if Morgan Rielly played would be as follows:

Rielly Zaitsev

Gardiner Carrick

Hunwick Polak

That's pretty freaking solid to me.

People like to talk crap about Hunwick and Polak but they kill penalties and they are on the third line. All they have to do is shut down the opponents and not let in a goal.

Fast forward to next year.

With Andrew Nielsen coming up. With Hunwick and Polak becoming UFA's next season, next year's defense core might look something like this:

Rielly Zaitsev

Gardiner Nielsen

Carrick Corrado? 

That looks even better. A bunch of young, offensive minded defensemen are perfect. And with the offence this team is providing and the steady backbone Andersen is, we just need mediocre defense and that core looks pretty strong to me.

New Year New Leafs

I haven't posted in a while but man these past 2 weeks of Maple Leafs hockey has been magical. The Centennial Classic, trading Jhonas Enroth, they are scoring like maniacs, it's just been a great time. Let's recap shall we?

CENTENNIAL CLASSIC
You could not have possibly better script this game. The Leafs blow another 4-1 lead with less than 7 minutes left. Sound familiar? The past Leafs did the same thing 3 years ago and them blowing the lead represented the last 50 years of pure failure.

But what is the Centennial Classic celebrating? It's not just celebrating the last 100 years of hockey, but also the next 100 years. The fact that the Maple Leafs' future, Auston Matthews, saves the team from past mistakes is so magical and emotional. Now just imagine the Stanley Cup finals.

FINALLY! SEE YA NEVER ENROTH!
The Leafs send Jhonas Enroth to the Ducks for a 2018 7th round pick and pick up Curtis McElhinney off waivers. With Andersen playing the way he is, all we needed was an average goaltender. Enroth just couldn't save a puck for his life. McElhinney won his first game as a Maple Leaf and it was great seeing a Leafs goalie not give up more than 2 goals.

The way McElhinney saves pucks gives me anxiety. He scrambles everywhere but as long as he gets the job done, I will manage.

THE LEAFS CAN SCORE
With Bozak scoring his 10th goal of the season last night, the Leafs have 6 players on their team and one with 20+ (can you guess who?). The last year Leafs had 6 players with 10+ goals the ENTIRE SEASON. That's insane. These rookies really made a huge difference and if we can get average defense and goaltending, playoffs here we come!