The city of Toronto is still buzzing from an epic Jays win last night by a monster walk off three-run homerun.

This changes nothing in Leafs land as the fans are still in awe watching their future studs in Matthews, Marner and Nylander. It’s such a microscope in Toronto for any sports team, and perhaps the Jays continuing their season with some October playoff ball is a good thing for Matthews and the young Leafs looking to make an impact with the upper brass. This allows them to just do their thing and easy their way into the media frenzy that will be ramming the microphone down their throats once the regular season begins.

Babcock was very pleased that Ottawa was sending such a quality lineup to Saskatoon last night for their pre-season game. The Leafs had a heavy lineup of youth and were able to give management a good idea how they look playing against an almost NHL team. That’s what pre-season is about, shaking off the cob webs for some of the vets with a few skates, having the young guns build up their confidence playing at a higher level and a chance for the rookies to show their progression as they mature.

So far what looks to be the free agent steal of the summer for the Leafs, Nikita Zaitsev.

We all saw how heavily team Russia depended on Zaitsev at the World Cup and I really feel there is a high chance that trend continues with Babcock and the Maple Leafs. Zaitsev can play! He’s a quality skater, one who is smooth and he seems to have his head up looking to make a smart play each time he moves the disc. His poise on the power play will work wonders for the Leafs as they have had issues not only scoring from the defense, but having a decent secondary option on the power play.

Zaitsev has a very hard shot, and it’s often on net. Something big Dion always struggled with, a 100 mph slap shot 3 feet wide doesn’t exactly help you put the puck in the net. Hopefully he can continue to put the puck on net and the Leafs forwards will cash in on some rebounds.

Finding our best defenseman (Rielly) a quality defense partner is a must moving forward, and its possible Zaitsev could be that guy. As much crap as I give Phaneuf for hitting the net, one thing the Leafs never gave Dion was a quality partner on the point. Making sure that doesn’t happen with Morgan Rielly is important; we want his game to get to the highest level possible. Personally, I think his game has improved a lot just playing under Babcock for one season, and it can only improve as he has seven more glorious years lined up with Babs.

With that being said, I can admit I had Zaistev pegged beside Gardiner on the second pairing. So a pleasant surprise it would be if the Leafs just scooped up a potential top pairing right handed defenseman for free. Any way you want to shake it, the Leafs scored big with Zaitsev as we can all see the price tag these days on top four defencemen; it’s outrageous.

Another great addition on the blue line is Connor Carrick. He came over in the Winnik trade and was a production machine for both the Leafs and Marlies down the final stretch. He’s certainly impressed me, and I can only imagine that Lamoriello and the boys had their eyes on the prize when they aimed their scope at Carrick who was Captain of the Hershey Bears at the time. For sure Washington has some great defensemen but wow, I’m still shocked they gave up on this kid so early; he sure seems like a gamer if you ask me. Great scouting and pry job by the Leafs management team on this one.

So we have Rielly, Gardiner, Zaitsev and Carrick all accounted for, leaving realistically three defensive spots open. It makes sense than Polak gets one of them to start the year and eventually gets traded (deadline) or earlier. A third pairing, hard hitting defenseman that doesn’t bring a whole lot of offense to the table could be good for the Leafs to have until one of their ripening prospects is ready to make the full time jump.

That leaves Hunwick, Corrado and Marincin battling for the two spots. It may be later in the season or early next year when you see Nielsen or Dermott on the ice at the ACC. There are some other quality prospects coming up the pipeline, but I feel the plot will thicken big time when this season ends and Toronto has the boat load of salary opening up. They could easily go out and sign a top pairing defenseman to a monster deal, and still have cash left over after. It all depends where management see’s the team, there is no point rushing things, but with such an onslaught of cash being off the books, you have to figure that money is going to be spent. This is the Toronto Maple Leafs after all.

There are talks of the Leafs going after Trouba (RFA), Shattenkirk (UFA season’s end) and Anaheim’s Lindholm who is still an RFA.

Any of these defensemen would be welcomed to the blue and white with open arms. They are all of high quality, but all long shots coming to Toronto and not worth holding your breath on. Other options will open up, and we could see another trade coming out of Toronto as the prospect pool is so thick.

This season should be all about the young Leafs progressing as a team and growing together. Let Babcock and his merry men see what they have in a lot of these players and they can make the executive decisions when they have to. I’m all for improving the roster, just make sure we don’t give up on a player too early bringing in another through trade. Patience Leafs Nation, just remember we were 30th place last season and there will be more pain. Thankfully, not as torturing as last season was.

Last night Andersen played his first game for the Leafs and was very solid. He saved 12 of 13 shots and wasn't affected by any pain or aggravation from his injury at the World Cup. He's going to be a difference maker for Toronto.

Thanks for reading, have a great day.

Join the Discussion: » 315 Comments » Post New Comment

» Bust out your monocle and take a gander of the Atlantic

» Atlantic Division Spotlight: Tampa Bay Lightning

» Slicing the Atlantic Division in Half

» Atlantic Spotlight: Toronto Maple Leafs

» Atlantic Spotlight: Red Wings