The Maple Leafs have spent the Auston Matthews era searching for something that has always felt just out of reach: a true No. 1 defenseman.
Matthews has done his part and then some. Since going first overall in 2016, he has become the franchise’s all-time goal leader with 428, won a Hart Trophy and captured three Rocket Richard Trophies.
But all those regular-season fireworks still haven’t been paired with a Stanley Cup, and the postseason wounds keep piling up. Toronto has had chances - in 2022-23 and 2024-25, both trips ended at the hands of the Panthers - while the rest of the playoff runs have ended in heartbreak.
The issue hasn’t been a lack of forward talent. It’s been the blue line. Toronto has never really found the kind of game-changing defenseman who can tilt the ice the way the best teams in the league do.
Morgan Rielly has been the club’s top blueliner, but he hasn’t been dominant enough offensively or defensively to truly fit that role. He’s been Toronto’s best option, just not the kind of centerpiece that compares with Quinn Hughes or Cale Makar. The Leafs have also leaned on names like TJ Brodie and Oliver Ekman-Larsson to help move the puck, but neither has come close to the impact of the league’s elite.
The numbers make the gap hard to ignore. Since 2021-22, Hughes has 388 points in 378 games and Makar has 413 points in 369 games.
Rielly, by comparison, has 244 points in 379 games. His one standout offensive peak remains his 20-goal, 72-point season in 2018-19, and he hasn’t sustained anything close to that level since.
That shortage has shown up everywhere. Toronto finished with the second-fewest points from defensemen at 132 and the fifth-fewest goals from the blueline at 28, and that lack of production has hurt both at 5v5 and on the power play.
The Leafs have leaned heavily on Matthews and Marner to carry the man advantage because they haven’t had a real quarterback at the point. Last season, they managed just one power-play goal from the blueline, and they haven’t had a genuine scoring threat from there since Dion Phaneuf, who scored seven goals in 2011-12.
That is the lane Darren Raddysh is supposed to fill. Toronto’s new addition led all defensemen with 10 power-play goals last season and finished with 22 goals and 70 points. He isn’t being sold as an elite Makar-or-Hughes type, but he does bring a shot that changes the look of the back end and adds more firepower overall.
He also brings a steadier defensive presence, with John Chayka believing he can help Toronto defend the blue line, settle things down in its own zone and make cleaner decisions in transition.
Still, the Leafs are betting that last season was no fluke. Raddysh is already 30, and Toronto is banking on that 70-point year being a real sign of what’s ahead rather than a one-off spike.
The search for this kind of defenseman has been going on for a long time. Over the last 20 years, Toronto has tried to move on from the once-dominant pairing of Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe.
There have been good players along the way, but none have fully owned the No. 1 role. McCabe had 13 power-play goals in 2005-06; Rielly has 16 in his entire career.
That’s part of why the Leafs made the move this summer. It came at a steep price - $8.5-million per season for eight years - but after a decade of trying to give Matthews the right kind of defenseman behind him, Raddysh is as close as Toronto has been.
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Leafs Came Shockingly Close To A Franchise Changing Gretzky Move
In 1996, the Maple Leafs found themselves in range of one of the most extraordinary free-agent swings in franchise history, with Wayne Gretzky open to coming to Toronto to be near his sick father. General manager Cliff Fletcher was interested, Gretzky was interested, and for a moment the idea of the Great One in blue and white felt more real than fanciful.
What stopped the move was the kind of off-ice decision that can echo for years around a franchise, with the clubs board of directors weighing the finances and the cost of the arena project before shutting it down. Gretzky instead landed elsewhere, and Toronto was left to wonder what might have been if one of hockeys defining names had ever taken the ice there. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Face A Blue Line Debate Fans Know Too Well
Logan Stanley is the kind of defenseman that tends to split opinion quickly, and the Maple Leafs are again staring at a blue line question they know all too well. His size is obvious, and so is the appeal for a team that has sometimes looked for a little more edge on the back end, but Toronto has spent so much time building around speed and puck movement that any discussion of Stanley has to start there.
If the Leafs were to take a run at him, it would almost certainly have to be on a low-risk basis and with a limited role in mind. Even then, there is no guarantee Toronto decides the fit is worth it, which is part of what makes this feel like such a familiar debate for a club that keeps weighing physicality against the way it wants to play. [Read more 🡒]
Gavin McKenna Is Getting The Maple Leafs Support Every Prospect Needs
The Maple Leafs are setting up Gavin McKennas arrival the way a franchise hopes to handle a prized young player: with a development path built around proven voices and a clear plan for the transition to the NHL. McKenna is expected to work with trainer Andy OBrien and strength coach Jason Martin, two names tied to the same Pittsburgh development model that helped shape Sidney Crosby, which gives Toronto a familiar blueprint as it prepares for a prospect with big expectations.
Auston Matthews will also be part of that support structure, giving McKenna the kind of veteran mentorship that can matter as much as any workout or skill session once a young player reaches the league. The Leafs know the adjustment is about more than talent alone, and the goal is to make McKennas debut feel less like a leap into the unknown and more like a carefully managed step into the NHL. [Read more 🡒]