Chris Tanev’s injury forces a meaningful Maple Leafs blueline shakeup

Like the rest of the Toronto Maple Leafs team so far, it is safe to say that the defence hasn’t looked great this season. That’s not to say that they’ve looked bad. In fact, the 28.8 shots against per game is down from the 29.3 averaged against them last season, and the blueline is certainly contributing more offence but there have been issues.

Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev haven’t been the lockdown duo they were last season. Brandon Carlo’s adjustment to being a Leaf is still at best a work in progress and while Morgan Rielly doing what Morgan Rielly does best is a positive outcome, it does mean that his partner (Carlo) has likely been left with some defensive work he might not be capable of handling. Heading into the season, Oliver Ekman-Larsson seemed like he could potentially be a concern for the Leafs, but so far, he has delivered what you’d hope for from a third pairing defender alongside Simon Benoit, and Ekman-Larsson’s increased offence is something the Leafs needed.

That being said, Tanev’s injury (his placement on the IR points to him missing 3 or more games) creates a shakeup situation on the blueline and the Leafs can benefit from that.

Similar to Max Domi playing on the Auston Matthews line against New Jersey, Brandon Carlo playing with Jake McCabe looks like he might be failing upward but not in a bad way. Logic would dictate that Carlo is better suited to moving down the lineup and not facing the competition that he would see alongside Morgan Rielly, but there is also logic in seeing what Carlo can do in a top four role with a more defensively minded partner. McCabe is that guy and this duo has the potential be very difficult to play against and very punishing in their own zone.

Carlo has played just under 30 minutes at 5-on-5 with McCabe. That has largely been due to Craig Berube not wanting to mess with the good thing he has going with McCabe-Tanev, but since it hasn’t looked as good this year and Carlo hasn’t looked particularly good as a Leaf. Unfortunately, their time was cut short by the need to salvage the other pairings, but a fair look at this duo is still warranted. There is value in seeing if Carlo just doesn’t work with Rielly or if he doesn’t work in the Leafs top four and while Berube and Treliving might not get that answer this weekend, they will at least have a better understanding of what the issue might be.

Dakota Mermis does not appear to be it. He is decidedly an AHL level player and it seems likely that if heading into the weekend it was more certain that Rielly wasn’t going to play, a Thrun, Benning, or Villeneuve callup would have been the stronger play. If there were five NHL defencemen ahead of Mermis, his play probably wouldn’t matter, but Simon Benoit cannot move up into a top four role, and putting Mermis with Myers was a dagger in the Leafs and the Sabres were able to take full advantage.

It will be interesting to see if Myers playing with Rielly when Morgan returns as the dup had success last season and gives Toronto a bit more of a luxury to try a few different things, which could also see Rielly and Ekman-Larsson taking a few offensive zone faceoff starts together, as both have dialed up their offence so far this season. Ultimately, if McCabe-Carlo can be a thing, Rielly getting a shot with Tanev as part of a defensive retooling might be worthwhile as Ekman-Larsson and Benoit are perfectly fine third pairing.

In the event that McCabe-Carlo don’t look compatible, giving Myers an extended look with Rielly and shifting to an Ekman-Larsson and Carlo pairing might be worth a look and the goal against they had on Friday night was the product of the line blender and a fair extended look could still make sense. might be worth testing what Ekman-Larsson and Carlo could look like as meaningful Plan B. And given that Rielly’s history with Myers has better results than the time he’s spent with Carlo (at least defensively speaking) the Leafs might have a sustainable solution to improving their blueline.

The reality is that the early takeaway from Tanev and Rielly’s absence is that Craig Berube is going to want his usual pairings back as quickly as he can get them, especially with the forward group in constant flux. Still, if there are any learnings or improvements that can come out of the necessity of the current situation the Leafs could be better off for them.

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