The most interesting story-line heading into the opening night of the Toronto Maple Leafs 2016-2017 season might be the defensive decisions.
Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner are the Toronto Maple Leafs two best defenders by large margin and there isn’t really much debate about it.
I don’t think Roman Polak is going to be paid $2.25M to eat popcorn with Brendan Shanahan in the box, nor do I think Nikita Zaitsev decided to come to Toronto to watch from the stands. That leaves two spots on the blueline.
Matt Hunwick and Martin Marincin are the easy choices if the view is based off experience and previous status within the organization.