3. Actual depth on defense
The word “actual” is doing a ton of heavy lifting here. There was always the perception of depth on the Toronto Maple Leafs defense. They would get guys like Mark Giordano to sign for the veteran’s minimum just so they could play with their childhood team. Then, they would become regulars because they would either outplay their competition or injuries would impact the team negatively.
During Keefe’s time in Toronto, they were forced to play 34 defensemen at least two games. That’s somehow more than the Devils, who seemingly had a rolodex of defensemen play for this franchise over the last five years. Names like Jordie Benn, Martin Marincin, and Victor Mete did nothing to earn an opportunity with the Leafs other than being former NHL players who got there due to someone’s injury.
On the Devils, things looked bleak when Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce went down. It got even worse when Santeri Hatakka went down and Nick DeSimone failed to impress in the preseason. The Devils have been able to replace all that with a good first run by Seamus Casey and Johnathan Kovacevic earning a starting spot. Even with Casey being sent down, he’s a huge contributor to this team.
This is actual depth that Tom Fitzgerald has built for Keefe. This man hasn’t seen Luke Hughes skate in a real game yet. He doesn’t know what he’s getting from Pesce. Yet, he gets the privilege of finding a spot in the lineup for both of them, and he’s 5-2-1 because he got the most out of this defense while they were out.