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.