Leafs D corps taking a lot of unfair criticism before the team has even played a game

On Wednesday, one reporter for Sportsnet released an article suggesting that the Maple Leafs possess one of the worst D groups of any Canadian team, finishing 5th of 7th in Sportsnet's Mike Johnston's rankings.

Last season, the Leafs opened the year with Morgan Rielly, T.J. Brodie, Jake Muzzin, Justin Holl, Mark Giordano and Rasmus Sandin as their top 6. This season, the Leafs' opening night group will likely consist of Morgan Rielly, T.J. Brodie, Jake McCabe, John Klingberg, Mark Giordano and Timothy Liljegren. The only real subtractions there, aside from the injured Jake Muzzin of course, are Justin Holl and Rasmus Sandin.

You could very easily argue that Jake McCabe and Jake Muzzin are a wash, playing a similar brand of hockey, though Muzzin's offensive instincts were a bit better. When it comes to Holl, Klingberg is almost assuredly an upgrade, despite the fact that he may not be the best penalty killer around. Justin Holl's offensive instincts left a lot to be desired and Klingberg will dwarf Holl's offensive numbers without breaking a sweat, and as much as I loved Rasmus Sandin, Liljegren was always the better of the two overall. So, how then is the Leafs' D corps being viewed as a worse group? It's a bit of a head-scratcher.

Johnston has suggested in his article below that the Leafs rank behind Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton and Vancouver, with only Winnipeg and Montreal possessing worse D corps in his mind.

Once again, to recap the Leafs' D group, we have:

Rielly/Brodie
McCabe/Klingberg
Giordano/Liljegren

Now, compare that to Vancouver, who ranked 4th, and one spot ahead of the Leafs:

Quinn Hughes - Cole McWard
Carson Soucy - Filip Hronek
Ian Cole - Tyler Myers

Pardon me, but aside from Hughes, is there anyone on this list who isn't entirely a replacement level defenseman?

Even in Edmonton, when you get past Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard, the D group leaves a lot to be desired.

Mattias Ekholm - Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse - Cody Ceci
Brett Kulak - Vincent Desharnais

If you want to call this group better than the group in Toronto, okay, fine I won't argue too hard to the contrary, but an argument can be made that the Leafs' D corps is still superior - especially with last year's defensive metrics in Toronto were so strong.

I will concede Ottawa and Calgary as having better D corps, but that's a no-brainer. Everyone knows how deep both clubs are on defense.

Look - I know I'm a Leafs fan, so there will be questions as to whether or not I can view this objectively, but as a hockey fan, I have a hard time looking at this list and accepting that the Leafs don't have the 3rd best defensive group in Canada, because I think they absolutely do.