m | Professors' Press Box

There is something about the Toronto Maple Leafs and defence that keeps coming back around. They can spend months figuring out what they want to do with their forwards, talk endlessly about scoring, and then suddenly everybody starts asking the same question when training camp is almost here: Who exactly is going to play defence?

Chayka has made changes on defence, but will they be enough?

That may be a little unfair to the current management group, because John Chayka has made some significant changes to the blue line. But the Chris Tanev situation is a good reminder that roster construction isn't just about who you have today. It's about knowing what might happen tomorrow.

Tanev is 35 years old. He's a physical player. He's also had an extensive history of injuries. None of that means he is finished. In fact, if he's healthy, he could still be an extremely important part of this Maple Leafs defence. But that's precisely why there should be a plan behind him.

This is where I understand the frustration in a fan’s comment about Nick Blankenburg. Blankenburg might be a reasonable replacement for Chris Tanev in the sense that he's another defenceman who can fill a roster spot. But he isn't a replacement for what Tanev brings.

Can Chayka replace Tanev without replacing his role?

You can replace a player. It's much harder to replace a role. Tanev gives Toronto size, experience, physicality and the ability to play the kind of ugly defensive hockey that becomes particularly valuable in the playoffs. If he's unavailable, simply putting another small, mobile defenceman into his spot doesn't necessarily solve the problem.

And this gets back to something that has bothered me about the Maple Leafs for years. Defence has too often seemed like something to figure out after the more exciting pieces were in place. Get the stars. Find the scoring. Then we'll worry about who actually has to stop the other team.

Maybe Chayka has been trying to change that this offseason.

The real test isn't whether Toronto has six NHL defencemen on opening night. It is whether the organization has a Plan B for the specific jobs those six players are supposed to perform. If Tanev is healthy all season, great. Nobody will complain.

But if he misses time, and Toronto discovers in September that there isn't another defenceman capable of taking on those minutes and responsibilities, that's not bad luck. That's roster planning.

The Maple Leafs don't need to find another Chris Tanev overnight. They probably can't. They just need to stop pretending they didn't know they might need one.