Is There a New Maple Leafs Core Four on Defence?

There is something a little funny about looking at the Toronto Maple Leafs' defence and realizing that Toronto may have created a new version of the Core Four. Not literally, of course. Morgan Rielly, Jake McCabe, Chris Tanev and Darren Raddysh aren't replacing Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares. These are completely different kinds of players, with completely different jobs.

Looking at the money spent on the Maple Leafs' defence raises a question.

But look at the money. Toronto has more than $25 million committed annually to those four defencemen. That's a significant chunk of the salary cap tied up in four players who are supposed to form the foundation of the blue line. And that is where I think this gets interesting.

For years, the Maple Leafs were criticized for investing too much in their forwards. The argument was pretty simple: you can have all the offensive talent in the world, but eventually you have to build a team around them that can defend, kill penalties and survive the kind of hockey that gets played in April. Well, Toronto has certainly changed that equation.

Now the Maple Leafs are investing more money in the blue line.

Rielly is still being paid like a top defenceman. McCabe has become an important defensive piece. Tanev is the veteran who is supposed to make the game’s difficult parts easier for everyone around him. And Raddysh is the biggest bet of all. That's a very different kind of Core Four. The old Core Four was built around scoring. This one is built around roles.

And maybe that's actually the more important change. The Maple Leafs aren't simply asking four players to carry the team anymore. They're asking different players to carry different parts of the game. Raddysh needs to provide offence. Rielly needs to move the puck. McCabe needs to handle the physical stuff and penalty killing. Tanev needs to take care of the defensive details.

That is a much more conventional way to build a hockey team. But there is still a familiar Toronto problem hiding underneath it. When you put that much money into a small group of players, you are making a bet. Those players have to stay healthy, productive and useful for the plan to work.

Raddysh could be the Maple Leafs' tipping point.

If he really is an $8.5-million defenceman, this blue line could make a lot of sense. If he isn't, Toronto has once again concentrated a lot of money in a small number of players and will have to find a way to make the rest of the roster work around them.

Different Core Four. Same basic question. Did the Maple Leafs finally find the right way to spend their money? Or will they run into the same old problem but in a different format?