Out with the old and in with the new - but not everyone is appreciating what the Toronto Maple Leafs have done under new general manager Brad Treliving.
Gone is Justin Holl off the blue line, while arriving is John Klingberg. And according to former Leafs blue liner and current hockey analyst Carlo Colaiacovo, that's not going to cut it for a team that has visions of proving that last season's Round 1 postseason victory wasn't a fluke.
Via Maple Leafs Insider:
"I know Brad Treliving has been open and honest about how he wants to build this team with his vision and a lot of it has to do with the way the defense is built and the defense is built. To me, I haven't seen it yet. To me, John Klingberg isn't the prototypical guy that fits the mold, the identity of what we see in a defenseman come playoff time. If he finds his form like he had in Dallas he can make this team more offensively dangerous," said Colaiacovo of Treliving's current defensive set up."
Colaiacovo then doubled down saying, "The teams that go the farthest, how do they usually get there? What do their defense look like? They definitely don't look anything like the Leafs' blueline looks like right now. You've got Mark Giordano and Timothy Liljegren on your third pair. John Klingberg and Jake McCabe on your second pair and you've got Morgan Rielly and T.J. Brodie. I've seen enough of Brodie and Rielly... The four teams that made it to the semi finals this year all had that defensemen that were big, that were strong and made you pay a price. Look at the series against Florida. They got pushed around, they got bullied and that was with the guys that were there and they're not there anymore."
While Klingberg has more of an offensive touch than now-former Leaf Justin Holl, just how much did Toronto give up in the physical department, and could it come back to bite them come playoff time next spring?
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