Toronto Maple Leafs: The Shutdown Duo of Our Dreams

Long is the winter night in Toronto when the Toronto Maple Leafs can’t keep the puck out of their own net.

For years now, the Toronto Maple Leafs, their coaches, and their fans have fantasized about a team that had a no-nonsense shutdown checking line that can be used against other team’s top lines and allow the team to create some easier matchups for their elite offensive players.

The hope was that Alex Kerfoot could centre some kind of defensive line, but he seems more suited to playing the wing on a scoring line (though he’s an excellent defender). Then the Leafs hoped that some combination of Nick Foligno and Riley Nash might do the trick.

Injuries made it so we never found out.

This year,…