With a new season underway, and all of his old buddies gone, the expectation of leading the defense rests on the quiet shoulders of Tomas Kaberle. Although Kabby has always proven to be cool under pressure, the biggest knock against him is that he doesn't use his shot—a very accurate one at that—enough. Kaberle is as good a playmaker as they come however, and he's one of the best at knowing when to join the rush.
It'll be interesting to see if Kabby uses his shot more often now that Bryan McCabe is gone, but one thing is for sure: Tomas Kaberle is the man on Toronto's defense now.
That's not to take anything away from Pavel Kubina however. Long-rumored to be on his way out of Toronto, Kubina stepped up his production towards the end of the year last season, and found himself on the team following a summer of questions. While Kaberle doesn't shoot very often, Kubina will make up for that on the powerplay (where six of his eleven goals came last season), and he's still got some size to offer the Maple Leafs.
Then we've got Anton Stralman, Carlo Colaiacovo, and Ian White. All three played with the Leafs last season, and all three can offer the same thing: puck-moving ability. The best of the bunch is Stralman, who's really started to look sharp late in the preseason. He's got a power-play-perfect shot, and for last season being his first in North America ever, he didn't do terribly (9 points, -10 in 50 games in the NHL).
Stralman will be great at finding the forwards along the boards with an outlet pass, and could turn into a star for the Leafs, much like fellow Swede Borje Salming was.
Colaiacovo meanwhile, is probably getting one of his last shots with Ron Wilson at the helm. One of Wilson's premonitions at his opening press conference was that he could "fix" Carlo Colaiacovo—something that no one has seemingly been able to do for the injury-prone 25 year-old.
Carlo is a solid defender, and has plenty of offensive potential, but again the key is that those things show themselves when he's healthy. A variety of injuries kept him to just 28 games last season, but if Colaiacovo can recapture his 2005/06 form (the season when he was at his best) before it was cut short by concussion problems, then the Maple Leafs' patience will have paid off—it has to eventually right?
Ian White is the member of that group of three that's on the bubble. White has looked to be replaceable the last little while, and he's even received a bit of a look up front with the forwards. White's size is his biggest knock against him, but if the Leafs do hold onto him and find a role to fit him into, then White could put up a bit of offense.
You'd think we'd almost be there by now, but we're hardly even close.
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