Their defensemen’s terrible puck movement during the previous season was their fatal fault, as they had the fourth-highest defensive zone giveaways in the NHL (according to MoneyPuck).
Now that the corporate dust has settled, let’s discuss the participants.
Here are two pending free-agent NHL defensemen that would solve all of the Maple Leafs’ defensive issues:
Now, I’ll be the first to admit, this one may be a bit of a fantasy. Montour has been the Panthers’ best defenseman over the last two seasons, and I find it hard to believe that they will let him walk away at the end of the season.
Regardless of what I think, Montour has not signed an extension with the team, and there has been little talk regarding negotiations between the Panthers and Montour.
Maybe that is because Montour, who was born in Brantford, Ontario, has been watching what a disaster the Maple Leafs blueline has been and is holding out on the Panthers to see if he can work out a deal to come back home and play in front of friends and family.
While Montour may come at a steeper price, he has been one of the better offensive defensemen in recent years, ranking inside the top 20 in points and fifth in individual expected goals by defensemen over the last three years (via NaturalStatTrick).
Despite his offensive production taking a hit this past season from his point total in the 2022-23 season, Montour still ranked in the top two per cent of defensemen in on-ice scoring chances and in the top 13 per cent in offensive chance contributions (via JFreshHockey).
In addition, Montour made some significant strides forward on the defensive end this season, improving his defensive wins-above-replacement (WAR) percentile by 25 percent. But the biggest reason the Leafs need to look at Montour is his puck retrieval skills.
In terms of retrieval success percentage, Montour was in the top 1% of defenseman the previous season. He has outstanding readability on the forecheck pressure and knows when to skate with the puck for a minute or make a quick outlet pass. Montour would also give this blue line some much-needed speed.
Despite not being a defenseman in the Brad Trelving style, Montour would significantly improve this defensive group.
Pesce is not as dynamic offensively as Montour. However, they still ranked in the top 26 percent of defensemen in offensive WAR this season. But Pesce’s offensive game isn’t really what I want to discuss here because I see him as the perfect fit to play alongside Morgan Reilly.
Pesce has increased his defensive WAR each over the past three seasons. Pesce ranks in the top four percent of defenseman in possession entrance prevention and among the best defensemen in the entry denial rate, so he’ll get along well with Reilly. Alongside Morgan Reilly, who likes to get up and move around the offensive end to help create scoring opportunities, Pesce would be an excellent safety blanket.
In addition to being a great safety blanket for Reilly, Pesce is phenomenal on his own end. He has the 15th most takeaways among defensemen over the last three years. He has taken the puck away almost twice as often as he has given it away. Plus he can move the puck too.
Pesce also placed in the top 17% of defenseman in terms of departure success rate and the top 7% in terms of retrieval success. Pesce is probably going to cost more than $5 million a year. Still, he would be well worth the money to have Reilly’s partner be a dependable, defensive-minded puck handler.