For a chunk of this season, the Leafs were missing three of their top-four defensemen. It’s unclear if Jake Muzzin will ever return (and if he does, what would his game even look like at this point?). TJ Brodie has recently returned, and his presence has gone a long way toward creating three stable defense pairings.
And then there is Morgan Rielly. I wouldn’t call Rielly the lightning rod in this city – William Nylander has a stronger case, and Mitch Marner probably does at times, too. But Rielly has always been a bit of a hot-button topic as a very good offensive defenseman who struggles defensively and is not a “true” number one.