One big name blueline rental that the Leafs should avoid at all costs

The Leafs D corps is in a bad way at the moment. Injuries to Morgan Rielly and T.J. Brodie, as well as the potentially career-ending cervical spinal injury to Jake Muzzin have left them awfully thin on the back end. In fairness to the Leafs' remaining defenders, they've all stepped up to fill the void. Yes, even Justin Holl. The addition of Conor Timmins will help, but the Leafs may still look to find a replacement for Jake Muzzin.

If Dubas and company do decide that they need to bring in a top-4 defenseman, one name that should be immediately crossed off the list is John Klingberg. The Ducks defender was once regarded as one of the best offensive defensemen, and one of the best contracts in the NHL. His time in Anaheim and even last season in Dallas hasn't been kind to his game. A defensively focused Dallas team did a good job of masking Klingberg's deficiencies in his own end. But, without that support in Anaheim, he is being exposed as a very one-dimensional player. Perhaps an even bigger issue is that his performance on the power play this season has dropped off as well.


The Leafs were rumoured to have turned down a deal for Klingberg last season at the deadline, it was the right call then and it's the right call now. Even if the Ducks retain half of Klingberg's salary, it's still $3.5M against the cap for an offensive defenseman with worse defensive metrics than Morgan Rielly. Klingberg is undoubtedly better than his first 20 games of this season, but he is still far from being a fit for the Leafs, nor is he close to being a stylistic replacement for Jake Muzzin. Klingberg is a big name and will come with a big price tag. Dubas refused to pay it last time and if he's smart, he won't even ask this time.