Busting a popular misconception, the Leafs have the opportunity to fix their backend by reuniting their best defensive pairing in Morgan Rielly and Chris Tanev.

One of the biggest issues regarding the Toronto Maple Leafs’ disastrous season to date is their defensive game having fallen from grace after a very strong showing in 2024-25.

With nearly the exact same defensemen on the roster, the Leafs have allowed the opposition to pepper their goaltenders and score at will with very minimal push back. While injuries have played a factor, it is something that needs changing in a hurry.

One way the Leafs can achieve some level of success is by reuniting Morgan Rielly and Chris Tanev. Despite a misconception out there that the duo can’t play well together, the stats show a completely different story, and it’s worth a shot with very little room for error coming out of the break.

In their most recent game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Rielly was stationed with Troy Stecher and Tanev was back with Jake McCabe However, if we dig deep into the statistics from the past two seasons, Rielly and Tanev have been their most successful pairing analytically.

As a duo they’ve posted a 58.45 xGF% and a 54.55 SCF% with a plus-14 differential in scoring chances for versus scoring chances against. Those numbers work in tandem with McCabe playing alongside either Stecher (54.54 xGF%) or with Oliver Ekman-Larsson (54.41 xGF%).

Additionally, that would give the Leafs another dynamic pairing in McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who have arguably been the best pairing over the same stretch of time with a 54.41 xGF%, 57.08 SCF%, and a plus-30 scoring chances differential.

The Leafs aren’t in a position where they can make a trade to better themselves with the market being relatively quiet right now and the club not having a lot of cap space to work with. They have a few options in the minors they could use, but at this point, their best bet will come from their active roster players.

The Leafs have been somewhat reluctant to pair Rielly with Tanev, but with so much on the line until the Olympic Break, it might be high time for Berube to optimize his lineup and use his top-4 defensemen the way they should have been used from the beginning.

Previously on Toronto Hockey Daily

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Stats bust a popular Maple Leafs misconception, which could lead to an interesting reunion

Should the Leafs bring back the Morgan Rielly and Chris Tanev pairing?