saying “literally the same”, and then except for swapping Carlo for Raddysh is some great work lol
Last season Benoit played 73 games, he is also gone. Carlo was a pilon. thats a decent differenceRaddysh pushing Rielly down the d depth is good. and he might still be traded.
Myers also played 39 games. as it stands the the D is going to be a very different look
Claiming VERY DIFFERENT when one of six guys on the depth chart changed is great work.
Rielly, OEL, Tanev, McCabe, Stetcher…yes, 5 of the 6 on the depth chart right now are literally all the same guys are back again. Defensively, the Leafs are just as weak as they were last year as of right now. They’re all a year older and just as likely to get hurt as they ever were.
Carlo was a pylon defensively in Toronto (but wasn’t in Boston, funny how that goes) and Raddysh is 30+, and known to not be very fast or a very good defender either. He’s had ONE good offensive season in the NHL playing with a multiple time Art Ross winner in front of him and a current Vezina winner behind him. Not a surprise Tampa Bay sent him to the Leafs like an anchor (much like Nick Paul) and replaced him with a cheaper and equally effective option in John Carlson. Playing without Vasilevskiy behind him and hard minutes might not go as well as they do in your blue and white dreams especially if they get the Bob of last year at 38-41.
Myers played and Benoit played because Tanev was hurt which is what Tanev has been most of his career so it’s expected to happen again and again until he’s got his own home on Robidas Island next to Muzzin Manor. Tanev is as vulnerable as ever and older than ever. He’s one hit away from Myers or some other pylon being thrown back into the line-up. And guess what, Myers, Rifai and Mermis are all still under contract so they’re likely back again at some point again. Andrae is tiny and not signed yet and Villeneuve is also unsigned. Neither seem to have a spot in the line-up because Rielly is still here and neither would be that big of an improvement either.
The D is not very different and Rielly isn’t going anywhere. Chayka gave up on it because he thinks Rielly is worth an asset and nobody wants to give anything up for Rielly in the only locations he’s willing to go to, otherwise he’d be gone by now. The majority of the quality players they could have signed are gone now so while subtracting Rielly would be a positive defensively, there’s almost nobody left to spend the cap space on.