Defense isnt improved though

Pesce is a guy whose not having a great season by his standards and realistically would not fit with Rielly's style

Pesce is not worth that, and his signing handcuffs any other substantial moves. Two thumbs down 👎🏻 👎🏻

What I see here is a similar team.to this year.

The bleuline has more bite, but the team as a whole will continue to depend far too much on 6 guys.

Robertson is still green. Far to insulated under Keefe. As a result, I am.not sure is defensive play is there to justify 2nd line minutes. That responsibility falls on JT, and as he gets older, that gets dicey playing heavy minutes.

Domi is a sheer offensive talent. Now the bonus is Jarnkrok is quite effective playing 200 feet and McMann has been a revelation - but that line needs a 200 foot player playing centre.


The 4th line with Reaves on it is a liability. He hits. That is about it. That line needs to forecheck, and outside Dewar, it can't. Simply put, easy exits, pinned in the D zone.

As for the D core itself:

Pesce is very good, but I agree.... isn't the right guy for Reilly. Need more of a two-way presence there. I think that guy is Carrier.....

Timmins on the bottom pair I don't like either. As a platoon option, for sure..... he changes the overall look of the blueline. But a guy like Hakapää playing with Benoit would be some levels of nasty Leafs fans haven't seen on the back end in decades. I would accept Edmundson in that role, but I would prefer the right shot.

I forgot to alter he d pairings after signings. I would have Timmins as healthy scratch. As p
For pesce, watching him shows he still plays very good defensively. But if not him, we can look to Roy as well. I was look at a true right handed defensively responsible defender. I get Robertson is still raw and Domi is more offensive. The idea here is to give the young players a chance to prove themselves with limited space and get another good defender which we need. Steeves, Robertson, Cowan etc... will all fight for positioning..the next year we can look to have Tavares signing for much less and can then better address an extra defender, an extra winger and center where needed. Reaves can easily be swapped around with Holmberg, Steeves etc.... he was good recently and proved he can play it agree he is no regular mainstay.

More crazy love for Pesce. Haven't we seen what happens to Dmen in their early 30s. Six years for 30 year old Pesce is way too MUCH (remember it's 2024.
Like the forward group. Stolarz is expect can do better than 1.6m. Maybe from his home state Devils.

All for letting the kids play, but I think that needs to be supported with 200 foot players at forward. Domi definitely isn't it. And if Robertson is going to play 2nd line, I would be inclined to think about another option over JT.

I just don't see this team being any different that this year's beyind the blueline changes. I don't think that is enough to shore up the team's defensive play