im not a fan of barrie and rielly together as a pairing. neither are good defensively and if they were to get hemmed in their own zone against any teams top 2 lines it would be a disaster. Its better for them to shelter barrie in OZ shifts and occasionally in the DZ against 3rd and 4th lines. dermott is better defensively and can make up for rielly's horrendous neutral zone defense. neither barrie or rielly have good gap control at all. dermott is probably the best on the leafs in that category and second best at causing dump ins (second to Marty marincin). Ceci hasnt been that bad but he makes way to much. if he made 2 million it wouldnt be the end of the world to keep him but he has some trade value

U ain’t gettin Georgiev for that. If we trade with you guys it’ll likely be around bracco and a 2nd

I agree that Rielly and Barrie paired together is not ideal from a defensive zone perspective. They are not good without the puck as a duo. Dermott is not a top pairing guy at this point. I doubt he ever will be.

Until the Leafs actually acquire a legit top pairing RD to play with Rielly expect the same mediocre results defensively from this team.

Marincin is relatively sound defensively but handles the puck like a live hand grenade. Ceci is a capable bottom paring guy but simply makes too much money to justify his presence there as you cited.

An optimal TML D Core would look something like this IMO...

Rielly / Legit Top Pairing RHD
Muzzin / Barrie
Dermott / Holl

With Sandin and Liljegren waiting in the shadows of the AHL to jump in when needed.

Acquiring that legit top pairing RHD has been the bane of this teams existence for some time now. Here's hoping they can do that before the February trade deadline at the expense of some offensive excess and perhaps some draft or and/or prospect capital.

Best trade chips at present are... Johnsson, Ceci, Bracco, and Timashov. Does a combination of those players and picks and prospects return that much coveted player? The jury is still out in that regard.

What about Timoshov + Bracco for Georgiev?

Nah timoshov is prob worth a 5th

Yea but as long as the team as a five man unit including the forwards continue to make defensive mistakes then they will continue to have the same results. Tavares needs to step up. Poor defensive mistakes against winnipeg costing a short handed goal against. He has not been very good so far this season and Id expect JT to play a solid two-way game. Spezza and Kapanen are also guilty of turning the puck over too much. Does not help when they got Marincin and Ceci playing D either.

I doubt that is enough.