Former Maple Leaf has indentified the one fatal flaw in the Shanaplan
Former Leaf Carlo Colaiacovo has put Brendan Shanahan and Kyle Dubas on blast for one major hole in the Shanaplan, which has been very costly for the Maple Leafs.
In a fan survey conducted by The Athletic that was released yesterday, Leafs fans showed their frustration with the Leafs' front office by handing out a dismal final ranking, which places the Leafs' front office as one of the worst in the league.
On TSN1050's 'First Up' this morning, former Leaf and current host of the popular morning radio show, Carlo Colaiacovo, took a deeper dive into the rankings and disagreed with almost everything aside from a very specific aspect, revealing what he believes is the one major flaw of the Shanaplan.
Colaiacovo really hammered home his point by highlighting the fact that the Leafs really have never drafted and developed a true stud defenseman in the entire Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares era. Really, the Leafs have almost entirely ignored the position since drafting Morgan Rielly.
The Leafs' front office has really done a poor job of drafting and developing defensemen to help address what was one of the biggest organizational needs for the last 8-10 years -- perhaps even longer. Justin Holl was never an answer for this team. Yes, they drafted Timothy Liljegren, Rasmus Sandin, Sean Durzi and Travis Dermott, but 3 of these players were dealt and only Liljegren remains.
Thankfully, the Leafs finally learned from past mistakes, with Brad Treliving using his 1st round pick to select Ben Danford with the 31st overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
Danford, by all accounts, has some elite defensive instincts, and does all of the little things needed to win hockey games. Unfortunately, it may 2 or 3 years before he has a chance to make the team, and by then, the Maple Leafs' core will likely look quite a bit different from the way it looks now, with John Tavares and Mitch Marner's deals concluding next summer.
Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but to be honest, most of Leafs Nation has been shouting from the rooftops about needing to draft and develop defensemen for ages. It's really too bad that it largely fell on deaf ears during the Shanaplan era.
Source: Hockey DB Leaf draft picks since 2012
| POLL | ||
7 AOUT | 605 ANSWERS Former Maple Leaf has indentified the one fatal flaw in the Shanaplan Do you agree with Colaiacovo about the one fatal flaw in the Shanaplan? | ||
| Yes | 502 | 83 % |
| No | 103 | 17 % |
| List of polls | ||
