Stanley Cup winner identifies the one missing element in Toronto that would make the Leafs a legit contender
Chris Pronger was one of the meanest and nastiest players during his career, racking up almost 1600 penalty minutes. The Stanley Cup Champion appeared in three Cup Finals with three different teams (Anaheim, Edmonton and Philadelphia) winning with Anaheim in 2007. Today on TSN1050's First Up, Pronger was asked about the Leafs and whether or not he believes that they have all the makings of a Stanley Cup Champion with how their roster is currently constructed.
"I think they've upgraded up front. I think they've upgraded certain areas of their back end," said Pronger. "They're extremely mobile, they've got great puck movers... I think they're just missing a little sand paper back there. A little bit of grit to strike a little fear into the opposition and grind on the opposition throughout the course of a playoff series. You start getting into 6/7 game series, you need some bigger bodies back there to lean on the opposition, to wear them down, cause you know they're doing it on the other side."
It isn't a secret that the Leafs have needed to add some more size and physicality to their blueline since Brad Treliving took over. They were unable to re-sign Luke Schenn, but that aspect of physicality and grit can be added throughout the season as Treliving sees fit. Pronger, unlike most, does like the addition of John Klingberg, who signed a 1-year, $4.15M deal with the Leafs on July 1st to take some of the offensive pressure off of Morgan Rielly and add more puck-moving ability to their defense. While the Leafs will once again be a top-tier regular season team, the jury is still largely out on whether or not they will have success in the post-season with the way they are currently constructed.
| POLL | ||
4 OCTOBRE | 325 ANSWERS Stanley Cup winner identifies the one missing element in Toronto that would make the Leafs a legit contender Do you think that one nasty, physical defenseman is the last piece the Leafs need to be a legit Cup Contender? | ||
| Yes | 144 | 44.3 % |
| No, they need more than one | 121 | 37.2 % |
| They need a nasty D-man and a legit goalie | 60 | 18.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
