Leafs went the early oilers rebuild route, with a heavy bias to skilled, soft forwards. No focus on size, grit, or any semblance of defence.
Once they moved to a point where ELCs were done and they are stuck paying full value to the forwards, drafting guys like sandin, liljegren, is of no use. Given that d prospects take longer to reach their potential, heck, becoming full-time nhlers, these teams need to be more strategic in bringing in strong, nhl ready dmen. Muzzin, Barrie, hainsey are not good enough....
I predict the leafs will look to move nylander to bring in an actual top 4 d.
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