Because the Toronto Maple Leafs use Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev in their top-four, this criticism is warranted.
The Leafs blue line, however, is better than its reputation suggests because Morgan Rielly is a legitimate Norris Trophy candidate, Travis Dermott is a rising star, and both Jake Muzzin and Jake Gardiner are heavily underrated #2 defenseman.
While the blue line is better than generally thought, it’s still the team’s major weakness – at least for now. The future promises a blue line every bit as good as the Leafs forwards.
Defense of the Future
I think that we can safely assume that Jake Gardiner is going to be the Leafs second major cap casualty.