I would play good money to watch that third line

Not sure I would put Franson here. Would probably slot Hainsey or even Gardiner in.

Cody Franson (!!!) over Morgan Rielly during that decade (Kinda stretched 'er out there by including 2020-21 season with Brodie though, eh?) is definitely a take....

Rielly. 70 pts in 2018.

He literally has Rielly as LD1...

Kaberle also had 1 season in the window only

Dear lord, how did I miss that

My mistake @leafs101, many, many apologies for my big 'ol miss there!

ignoring the rielly thing lol, there's really no right answers outside of Rielly - Phaneuf - Muzzin. The good players outside of them had very short windows in that era, the Gardiners or the world certainly had their issues, and then there's a lot of mediocre or outright terrible defencemen. Hainsey, Gardiner, and a few others were definitely under consideration. Closest one for me was Hainsey I loved him as a leaf.

Say what you want about Dubas, but he transformed the D core from literal shambles aside from Rielly

Agree 100%. Big bogey by me on the Rielly part

Definitely further proof of Brian Burke being one of the biggest frauds in the NHL. It's funny to look back at that Boston series in '13, when people chirp about the Leafs blowing it...You guys *SOMEHOW* made it to game 7 (and were somehow leading) with Dion, Gards, Mike Kostka and Gunnarson all playing over 22 minutes a game on D...add to that guys like Mark Fraser, Liles, and Ryan O'friggin Byrne...it just goes to show that James Reimer was an absolute hero.

If someone looked at that roster today, without knowing what would happen, and you said "How would they fare out this year?" they'd absolutely say "Ha, that teams going to win the Bedard sweepstakes!"